Ray Conlon

Still only out in limited release, the true crime drama “Foxcatcher” already is getting much fanfare and Oscar buzz.

That makes Ray Conlon chuckle.

The Butler attorney came a nod away from seeing his name mingled into the credits with the likes of stars Steve Carell and Channing Tatum. Conlon twice auditioned in front of red-hot director Bennett Miller for the role with the fifth most lines in the movie.

The movie, which portrays the story of Olympic wrestling champion Mark Schultz and paranoid-schizophrenic millionaire coach John du Pont, was filmed in part in the Pittsburgh region.

Conlon read for the role of du Pont’s assistant, then called Sid Beck but a role that has since been changed to Jack.

“This is my brush with fame,” said the Renfrew father of four, whose lone acting experience was a one-liner as Johnny Appleseed’s brother in a fourth-grade production.

Conlon said he’s as perplexed as anyone about how he got on the Hollywood radar. He’d done nothing to invite the opportunity.

Out of the blue one day in September 2012, he got a call asking if he would read for a role in a movie. He agreed, thinking it was a prank.

A woman with a camera showed up at his office in Butler, taped him reading a script, then left.

Two days later, Conlon was invited to Miller’s makeshift office in Monroeville to read for the role. He visited twice and was even asked to be fitted for wardrobe. Conlon said his four daughters went “bizerk” over the possibility of rubbing elbows with the movie’s other major players.

“(But) I didn’t know Channing Tatum from Tatum O’Neill,” Conlon said.

Conlon described Miller, already renowned for directing Moneyball in 2011 and Capote in 2005, as “reserved” and personable. They chatted between readings that went on for about 45 minutes.

Later, Conlon said he got a call from the movie people saying Miller really liked him but had sincere concerns that Conlon had no acting experience.

“I’m tall Ma, I can reach it,” Conlon said was his only line in his solo acting Johnny Appleseed gig that he still remembers fondly from childhood.

Conlon was offered a background part in a movie crowd scene, but he had a conflict that day and chose to go to his daughter’s event instead.

Anthony Michael Hall, who’s appeared in many movies since the mid-1980s, got the part.

“They gave the part to Rusty from the ‘Vacation’ movies,” Conlon said.

Following his fun flash with the famous, Conlon said he’s not interested in pursuing a dramatic career. And he might not even see “Foxcatcher” when it hits local theaters next month.

“I might wait for it to come out on Netflix. It’s not my genre,” Conlon explained. “I’m really more of a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood kind of guy.”

Conlon said he took no photographs of himself with Miller, and he never asked for an autograph because “I always thought someone was messing with me. I kept waiting for the punch line, so I never thought to memorialize it.”