Even though Steve Carell is already being considered an Oscar contender for his dramatic performance in Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller recently revealed that the film nearly wasn’t made. Miller told the Associated Press that only by viewing Foxcatcher as his “Bigfoot” was he able to survive the variety of road blocks which came close to shutting down production of the highly-anticipated film.

Based on a true story, Foxcatcher stars Carrell as John DuPont, a wealthy benefactor to two Olympic wrestlers portrayed by Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. Miller first found out about the tabloid story from a newspaper clipping, and immediately knew he wanted to make a film about it.

“When you get hooked onto something like the notion of ‘Foxcatcher,’ for me, there is a very strong, specific feeling about the soul of this film, in the same way you might know a person or that you might know a film that exists, to have that sense of WHAT IT IS,” said Miller. “But it’s still not a material thing yet, and how to realize that thing, how that soul gets incarnated is the process. It’s like, ‘I had a glimpse of Big Foot, and now let’s go track him.'”

Making the film, however, was much more of a struggle than the director could have anticipated. Miller spent nearly seven years working on Foxcatcher– he first had to get past a lawsuit with the original production company and several attempts to shut down the film, and once filming was completed, he took a whole year to edit. However, when he won best director for the film at Cannes, his pains proved worthwhile.

“I love that kind of pain. I really feel in my element in the edit. It can be excruciating, but it’s the most rewarding. That’s when it really comes alive. For better or for worse, it’s my nature to be in that room, toiling.”

Miller also took several years to film his 2005 breakthrough film Capote, but critics praised his efforts once the film yielded an Oscar for Philip Seymour Hoffman and a nomination for Catherine Keener. Carell has already been told by numerous critics that he should expect a nomination for his transformation in Foxcatcher, and is making sure to give due credit to Miller.

“He painted a picture of the movie that was vivid, that was incredibly detailed even at that early stage,” said Carell of his first meeting with the director. “Years later when I saw it for the first time, it was exactly as he described it to me.”

“He understands tonality so well. Just a very precise cut-away or lingering on a shot for another beat or two. He’s very conscious of how that can affect things before and things after. He built this house of cards and it’s very precise and it’s very intricate. I think that’s why he’s so good.”