Steve Carell has been talking about giving a rare straight performance in his new movie.

Foxcatcher is in the running for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

The almost unrecognisable actor plays an idiosyncratic multi-millionaire who bankrolls the US wrestling team all the way to the 1988 Olympics.

Channing Tatum plays Mark Schultz, whose brother (played by Mark Ruffalo) is murdered by a paranoid schizophrenic. 

The director, Bennett Miller, directed Moneyball and Capote and his new film is already being tipped for an Oscar.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival his week.

Carell says the serious subject matter didn't bother him.