TELLURIDE — In August of 2005, the Palm Theater in Telluride was inaugurated with the world premiere of Bennett Miller's Oscar-winning biopic "Capote." Nine years later Miller was back for the North American bow of his latest film, "Foxcatcher," which screened to a packed audience eager to get a look at this dark and mysterious story.

The film, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May, recounts the bizarre true tale of John du Pont, heir to a fortune, but clearly, by the text of the film, unfulfilled with himself and desperate for adulation perhaps denied him by his forthright mother. A self-proclaimed patriot, du Pont wanted to put together a wrestling team and win Olympic Gold at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He reached out to Mark Schultz, the brother of famed Olympian Dave Schultz, and so began a twisted, psychological torment that ended with Dave dead at the hands of an eccentric multimillionaire.

Miller was first approached with the material nearly a decade ago by producer Tom Heller. "Immediately there was something about it that seemed very funny to me, but I knew that the outcome of it was terrible," the director explained in the post-screening QA. "The notion that this person with this incredible wealth and this incredible ancestry would pursue this venture and bring these wrestlers onto the estate so he could be their coach, something he knew nothing about, is absurd. It's a set-up for an absurdist comedy."

And that sense of things is evident in the film. For all its tragedy, "Foxcatcher" is a, dare it be said, hilarious film. Mostly one sits in awe at the gall of du Pont (played expertly by comedian Steve Carell) throughout, repression and bruised ego oozing from every pore of his creepy frame. The film is very much an observer of this and other behavior, meticulous in both its construction and in how it is performed; the film's three principals, Carell, Channing Tatum (as Mark Schultz) and Mark Ruffalo (as ill-fated Dave) bring a physicality to the fore that is unmistakable, from Carell's hunched demeanor to Tatum's hulking movements to the resting position of Ruffalo's hands, seemingly affected by so many years spent on the mat ready to pounce. All of that feeds into how the characters relate, above and below the surface.

"These people were incapable of understanding each other or being honest with each other about what they wanted from each other," Miller said. "The more I looked at it, the themes and the sub-themes within it just seemed a very haiku, elegant, eloquent depiction of the microcosm of so much that is at work in the world today. That's how it felt to me."

As far back as Miller's first encounter with the material, he was interested in a young Channing Tatum for the role of Mark. The actor was just starting his career and admitted he did not understand the script, or the thematic structure that was at play in the material.