TIFF 2014: Mark Ruffalo accidentally made Channing Tatum go deaf on the set of 'Foxcatcher'

“Foxcatcher” star Steve Carell is getting a lot of buzz at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival for his transformative performance as eccentric and ultimately violent millionaire John du Pont. Less talked about, however, is the physical transformation that co-stars Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo underwent to become real-life Olympic wrestlers Mark and David Schultz in the upcoming sports drama from “Moneyball” director Bennett Miller.

“My knees will never be the same,” Tatum revealed at a panel discussion with the cast of “Foxcatcher” on Sept. 7. “My neck will never go back to its normal size. I think we [myself and Ruffalo] have the beginnings of starter kits for actual real cauliflower ear. And god knows the scars that are on my soul that Bennett has given me!”

All three leads (Tatum, Carell, and Ruffalo) described making the dark movie as a mentally and physically demanding task. Carell compared the whole process to playing multiple games of multi-level chess with himself and the other actors. As for the physical aspects, the rough-and-tumble nature of making a film about Olympic-level wrestling meant that injuries were almost a foregone conclusion -- but Tatum said he hadn't really banked on being slapped repeatedly by co-stars Carell and Ruffalo throughout the production.

“Did your eardrum fix itself?” inquired “Foxcatcher” writer/director Bennett Miller, who joined the actors on stage to discuss the film.

“Oh, the slap?” Tatum said, grinning as co-star Mark Ruffalo buried his face in his hands. “I got slapped around a bunch in this movie - thanks, Steve Carell, as well as Mark! A fun story about a not so funny scene -- Mark Ruffalo is such a sweetheart -- he comes in and he’s got to wake me up out of this crazy place that I’m in and he’s going to slap me. First take, he pushes my head really hard and I was like, ‘Just do it - You gotta just do it, it’s the time!’ So he really did it on the next take and perfectly cupped my ear in such a way that I popped my eardrum.”

By this point in Tatum’s tale, the audience was in stitches, and a clearly embarrassed Ruffalo couldn't even look at his co-star. Carell and Miller could only listen with smiles on their faces.

“I didn't actually know what happened because it was one of those weird moments where all the sound actually goes out of the room,” Tatum said, proceeding to imitate the high pitched noise that he'd heard as Ruffalo re-enacted mouthing words to his temporarily deafened co-star. “For the next 20 minutes, that’s all I could hear. It really helped me with my acting.”

“That didn't happen!” Ruffalo sheepishly joked. “He definitely paid me back.”

“I definitely paid him back,” Tatum said.

To add insult to injury, Tatum said he wasn't even sure if that particular take even ended up in the film. So when you're watching “Foxcatcher” and see Tatum look particularly dazed after taking a blow to the head from Ruffalo, you'll know that was probably the moment that his eardrum popped.

Watch the "Foxcatcher" trailer:

“Foxcatcher” has its Canadian Premiere in the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 8 and hits theatres on November 14.

(Photo courtesy of Noah R. Taylor)