The director David O. Russell - what's the story?

On a film forum someone mentioned he can't win an Oscar for Director because he is hated in Hollywood. Yes he called Lily Tomlin a cunt, but she forgave him. Is there something else going on with him that the general public doesn't know?

• Sshhh.... listen quietly, and I will tell you the great secret of David O. Russell... (pause) HE'S NOT THAT TALENTED. So now you know the story, OP.

  Sue Mengers' Stretch Pants

• In addition to the Tomlin story I've heard these floating around for general consumption: He got into a major fight with George Clooney during the filming of Three Kings Russell was apparently over budget and the studio put him under a lot of pressure, so Russell was taking it out on the crew and extras. Clooney confronted Russell, and Russell headbutted him, and the two of them started strangling each other before they were pulled apart. James Caan walked off Russell's film Naked during shooting because of Russell. He quit the next day. Russell reportedly grabbed Batman director Christopher Nolan and put him into a headlock at an industry party, and demanded Nolan let actor Jude Law go from a project so he could be in Russell's film I Heart Huckabees. I'm sure there are more stories than this, but these are the most famous. Russell seems to have cleaned up his act some in recent years, but people have long memories, and Clooney and Nolan are two very high profile enemies to have in the industry.

• I heard he likes to eat his own boogers.

  Rona%20Barrett

• The Huckabees meltdown was fascinating. I watched the videos like 30 times when they came out. My favorite part was when Naomi Watts couldn't hold her laughter anymore so Tomlin went after her too: "That's right, Fuck you too!". And Isabelle Hupert, cool as a cucumber. FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dn4uTGvTFzyQ

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• It used to be like our country club, no coloreds or Jews.

  Bitsy%20Blueblood

• met his now ex-wife a few years ago. he sounds like a major tool

• His son is bipolar and Dad most likely is too.

• Whoopsie! Thought I was posting in the good ole days in Disneyland thread. Mea copa.

  Bitsy

• Thanks R4, that was great. Love Huppert who looks so completely over the whole thing. Lily telling Naomi "fuck you too' and Naomi tells her I'm sorry, lol. What a pushover.

• Mea copa? Oh dear!

• Considering the stories, I want to know the opposite. How is he still working? His films are generally boring twee shit, so its not like he's particularly talented. How can he still get a film off the ground when he is made so many enemies? Who is protecting him? He is cause he's a straight white male?

• All I care about is that he directed one of the great comedies of all time, Flirting with Disaster. Brilliant.

• Meanwhile, he got an Oscar nom, while Ben Affleck, who won the Golden Globe, and whose film won the Golden Globe, The Producers Guild, and the SAG Award, did not.

• Remember when his transgender niece accused him of groping her?

• And yet the bigger asshole he is, the more he is rewarded? Hmmm... see also Christian Bale, Kim Basinger, etc. And welcome to show business where they don't respond to "nice". P.S. This works on smaller levels in the biz too. Local actors, freeze out the local casting directors, ignore them if they are a few feet away and they will hand you the moon. If you say "hi" and be polite, they hate you. Truly. (and, yeab, Russell is talented, though SLP may be his least interesting, certainly visually. "Flirting with Disaster" is still amazing from start to finish and I do love "Huckabees" and "Spanking the Monkey" too.

• "FWD" is a great film that still holds up today. It was pretty spot on how they dealt with stuff like race relations in the volatile mid 90's (the scene with the well-meaning black guys in the van). It was also WAY ahead of its tie with the depiction of a loving, masculine gay couple who actually wanted to start a family. This was pretty revolutionary for a mainstream film back then.

• His son is autistic. I think that's why he made whatever the title of his last film is. Partly to express that experience.

• [quote]Mea copa? Oh dear! Mea Copa Cabana!

  Rita%20Hayworth

• Russell is a unique type of asshole. He's not the Michael Bay kind, he is truly disturbed. Bay is a misogynist, but he doesn't have a reputation for weird, creepy shit that can be litigated. The worst I've heard about Bay is he allegedly fucks 16-18 year old girls (consentually). Not that that is right, but Russell was actually blacklisted for a while for his personal antics. Horrible, horrible behaviour, even for Hollywood. He does very bizarre things that border on pathology. His agent(or manager) left him after he laid down on the floor of a production office to look up her skirt. (This was the last straw.) He allegedly surfs porn during production meetings with execs and gets visibly excited over it. He (allegedly) has sexually assaulted women in the past who either were paid off or didn't sue because they were in the industry and wanted to continue their careers, or both. These stories were never confirmed like the agent story, but they have followed him around for years. Additionally, he is one note. He's said himself that he can only do projects that he can relate to in some way, hence the fucked up family, alcoholic screaming fests his movies are.

• Oooooo, real gossip. Thank you r19!

• [quote]And yet the bigger asshole he is, the more he is rewarded? Hmmm... see also Christian Bale, Kim Basinger, etc. And welcome to show business where they don't respond to "nice". I don't think this is altogether true. There are many people in the business who have done very well who are well known for being extremely nice: Angela Lansbury, Sandra Hullock, Hugh jackman, Carol Burnett...

• That video @ r4 is hilarious. It comes off like a skit I laughed all the way through it.

• Here's the companion to R4's video - Russell starts yelling at 1:09.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DE4Qls1rAfYs

• [quote]Remember when his transgender niece accused him of groping her? What happened in the end? I think the reason he was able to get his career back on track was because Mark Waghlberg was his bud since Three Kings and once he agreed to star in the Fighter (and it became a huge hit), he was back in people's good graces. As usual "liberal" Hollywood will overlook anything so long as it makes them $.