George Clooney’s ‘worst ever on-set experience’
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Credit: JoBlo Film
The many controversies of David O. Russell
The five-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker David O. Russell is responsible for making some of the finest movies of recent years, receiving critical and commercial praise for The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Collaborating with the finest contemporary acting talents, including Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Margot Robbie and Anya Taylor-Joy, he remains a sought-after creative despite the many controversies throughout his career.
Allegations of violence go way back to the start of his career, most significantly when he clashed with George Clooney on the set of the 1999 movie, Three Kings. Also starring Mark Wahlberg, Spike Jonze and Ice Cube, the film was a considerable step-up for Russell, with many considering the stress of the production to be the reason for his outburst toward Clooney.
Taking exception to how Russell treated his cast and crew, often shouting in fits of rage, Clooney stood to defend the production team until a feud erupted during one particular scene. The scene in question included the three lead characters and an extra who was ordered to throw Ice Cube’s character to the floor. Unable to convincingly throw the actor’s large frame, Russell marched over to the extra and launched the actor to the floor.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Clooney recalled the event, “We were trying to get a shot, and then he went berserk. He went nuts on an extra”. Approaching Russell in frustration, the actor and director reportedly shouted at each other before engaging in a physical fight, “Will I work with David ever again? Absolutely not. Never. Do I think he’s tremendously talented, and do I think he should be nominated for Oscars? Yeah,” Clooney concluded.
Russell’s violent conduct continued five years later, before (and during) the production of the 2004 film I Heart Huckabees. With Jude Law due to star in the film, alongside Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Mark Wahlberg and Jonah Hill, Russell took exception to fellow filmmaker Christopher Nolan trying to tempt Law over to his own film, The Prestige, resulting in Russell flipping out in rage.
In a report from The New York Times, Russell ran into Nolan at a Hollywood party and publicly humiliated the British director by physically assaulting him. Putting Nolan into a headlock in front of the other party guests, Russell demanded that Nolan give back Jude Law to his own production, arguing that he should in a gesture of “artistic solidarity”. Presumably irritated and insulted, Nolan indeed gave Law back to Russell’s production.
Even during the making of Russell’s I Heart Huckabees, the director came to blows with his other actors, famously clashing with star Lily Tomlin. In the same New York Times article referenced above, writer Sharon Waxman described that the actor was called “…the crudest word imaginable, in front of the actors and crew,” by Russell.
Speaking to Movieline in 2011 about her experience on the set of the film, the actor stated, “It was just crazy, crazy stuff. We were always doing something, and then we’d get manic and crazy, and I just flipped out on him. Then he flipped out on me. And you know, stuff goes on”.
Around the same time, Russell became involved in an entirely more serious allegation of sexual misconduct when his 19-year-old transgender niece, Nicole Peloquin, filed a police report alleging that the director sexually assaulted her. Offering to help his niece with exercises, Russell later slipped his hand underneath her shirt and felt her breasts, with Russell confirming that the incident had happened in a conversation with police, even telling the authorities that Peloquin was “acting very provocative toward him”. The case was closed without any charges being filed against Russell because police didn’t witness the alleged assault.
Such on-set violent conduct has continued in recent years too, with Amy Adams reporting the director’s aggressive attitude on the set of American Hustle in 2013. This was made public in the Sony hacks of 2014, with the journalist Jonathan Alter stating, “He grabbed one guy by the collar, cursed out people repeatedly in front of others and so abused Amy Adams that Christian Bale got in his face and told him to stop acting like an asshole”.
With Russell’s latest movie, Amsterdam, starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood, it’s somewhat remarkable that the director still holds considerable power in the modern industry.
