David O. Russell is in the news again, but not for a new project. The director, who’s brought audiences such eclectic films as “Spanking the Monkey,” “American Hustle,” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” has built a reputation as one of the most chaotic filmmakers working today, and on more than one occasion, firsthand accounts have emerged alleging that the chaos tends to veer into verbal abuse — or worse.
Russell still seems to have support in the industry: In 2022, more than two decades after the first reports of Russell’s alleged on-set bullying and violence emerged, the filmmaker released “Amsterdam,” a star-studded film featuring the likes of such beloved famous folks as Margot Robbie, Anya-Taylor Joy, John David Washington, Robert De Niro, Michael Shannon, Timothy Olyphant, and even Taylor Swift. The movie starred Christian Bale, a frequent Russell collaborator who extolled the virtues of the controversial filmmaker while doing press for the movie. He told IndieWire that the director is “truly one of the greats,” noting that he’d love to work with him for a fourth time. “David is unlike any other film director, and that’s what you want,” he explained.
Given how many big-name stars who otherwise seem like decent people still work with Russell, it’s worth wondering if the allegations against him simply aren’t sticking in the public consciousness despite their consistency and quantity. George Clooney, who starred in the 1999 film “Three Kings” for the director, is certainly doing his part to spread the word: 24 years after he first told press about an intense fight the two had on set, he just reiterated to GQ that Russell is a “miserable f***” who made everyone’s life “hell” behind the scenes on the film.
Here’s a rundown of Russell’s alleged bad actions to date.
The director has allegedly fought with George Clooney, Lily Tomlin, and Amy Adams
By my count, there are well-sourced stories about abuse or workplace dysfunction on at least six Russell-directed films, dating back to the 1999 war comedy “Three Kings.” On the set of that movie, Clooney told Playboy that Russell publicly humiliated a camera rig driver, made a script supervisor cry, pushed and kicked an extra, and threw an assistant director’s walkie talkie. All of this culminated in what Clooney says was a pretty serious fight between himself and the director after Russell antagonized and headbutted Clooney. “He got me by the throat and I went nuts,” Clooney recalled in 2000. He went on: “Waldo, my buddy, one of the boys, grabbed me by the waist to get me to let go of him. I had him by the throat. I was going to kill him. Kill him.”
Russell denied Clooney’s story, but leaked footage from the set of his next directorial effort, “I Heart Huckabees,” seemed to prove that he was at the very least verbally abusive on that set. The video, which is still available on YouTube, shows Russell responding to fed-up feedback from actor Lily Tomlin by throwing props and going on a tirade, calling her “some f***ing c**t” in the process.
His alleged mistreatment of Amy Adams on the set of “American Hustle” is equally infamous. According to Vulture, word of Adams’ experiences first spread during the Sony email leak, when journalist Jonathan Alter wrote that someone he worked with told him that Russell verbally abused people on set, grabbed one person by the collar, and “so abused Amy Adams that Christian Bale got in his face and told him to stop acting like an a**hole.” Adams would later go on to tell UK GQ that the director made her cry every day on set.
Stories about Russell’s bad behavior on set abound
The above accounts may be the most well-known of Russells’ apparent on-set problems, but there are even more allegations of verbal abuse and set dysfunction. Paul Reubens once told a South By Southwest audience that he got the sense that every person on the set of “Nailed” (later released as “Accidental Love”) had seen the viral Lily Tomlin video, but that didn’t stop Russell from yelling on set. “My first day on the movie, he was screaming at me at the top of his lungs,” the late actor recalled in 2011 (via Vulture). “I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting there, and he was cursing and screaming on the first take.” James Caan also left that same movie after a disagreement with Russell, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Russell’s 2015 film “Joy” was also allegedly chaotic, with TMZ reporting that Russell made a Fox executive cry when she tried to “defend the line producer who David wants to fire.” Studio reps shot down the news item, but said there was a “heated” argument between Russell and the exec. The outlet also reported that Russell was heard screaming expletives at Lawrence, but apparently that was all in service of a scene; Lawrence called it “tabloid malarkey” and still seemed to have what she considers a good working relationship with the director as of 2019.
While there don’t seem to be any reports of abuse from the set of “Amsterdam,” Russell’s latest project, star Margot Robbie did once confess that the police were called when the director refused to stop shooting a scene within the legally allowed time frame. On “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Robbie explained that Russell didn’t want to stop shooting even once the day’s permits had expired, and a policewoman ultimately had to call “wrap” for the night.
Reports of off-set incidents are equally concerning
According to several accounts shared over the years, Russell’s misbehavior isn’t just confined to movie sets. In 2004, The New York Times reported that once, at a Hollywood party, Russell ran into director Christopher Nolan and “in full view of the party guests — [put] him in a headlock.” The issue? Jude Law had apparently considered dropping out of “I Heart Huckabees,” and taking a role in a Nolan project (presumably “Batman Begins”) instead. Of course, Law isn’t in “Batman Begins”: After Russell “[wrapped] his arm around Mr. Nolan’s neck […] [demanding] that his fellow director show artistic solidarity and give up his star,” Law ended up back in the “Huckabees” cast.
Another Hollywood party story was revealed by the aforementioned Sony leak, when (according to Vulture) Columbia Pictures’ Michael de Luca told Amy Pascal, then Sony’s co-chairman, that he saw Russell bring “Mrs. Doubtfire” actor Sally Field to a party, only to “reduce her to tears.” There’s little additional information about this anecdote, but it’s not the last of its kind.
According to one edition of industry insider Matthew Belloni’s Puck newsletter, Russell was still getting into tiffs at parties as recently as this year. According to Belloni’s sources, Sony executive Sanford Panitch accidentally tripped over Russell’s leg at Chanel’s Oscars party, and the director allegedly “became immediately irate and punched Panitch hard in the stomach,” per Belloni. This story never caught much traction, perhaps because at this point, it’s just a drop in the bucket of the director’s legendary bad behavior.
The filmmaker once faced a disturbing sexual assault allegation
As disturbing as all of these allegations are, Russell has an even more upsetting incident in his past. In early 2012, a website published a police report (not linked here as it includes sensitive information about the accuser) indicating that Russell’s niece, a then-19-year-old trans woman, accused him of touching her breasts at the gym after he offered to help her with a workout. Disturbingly, Vulture reports that Russell didn’t deny the intimate contact with his teen relative, but said that his niece was acting “very provocative” and had become “seductive” after transitioning. According to TMZ, the case was closed without any filed charges, but there was no putting a lid on this undeniably disgusting story.
It’s also not the only time Russell has been said to have engaged in sexual misconduct: That, too, came up in a set report, specifically from “I Heart Huckabees.” In the same New York Times piece featuring the story about Russell headlocking Christopher Nolan, Russell is also said to have attempted to motivate actors for scenes by whispering “lewdly” into their ears and by “touching them — a lot, and sometimes in private places.” The piece includes a moment where star Mark Wahlberg makes a joke of the touching, announcing into a megaphone, “This man just grabbed my genitals! It is my first man-on-man contact!”
Elsewhere in The New York Times article, Russell is described as slowly shedding his clothing throughout the day on set, until by lunchtime he ended up working out on the sidewalk in just his boxers. “Also, he keeps rubbing his body up against the women and men on the set,” Times writer Sharon Waxman reported, referencing the hours before Russell had almost fully disrobed. “Actors, friends, visitors” alike were all subject to the body contact, according to Waxman.
Russell himself has spoken about some of these incidents
Russell has occasionally responded to the mountain of allegations against him. In 2004, after Clooney told reporters he’d hit Russell if he saw him again, the director responded by telling The Guardian, “I never physically attacked him. If I ran into him, I’d say, ‘Shut the f*** up, you lying-ass b***h.'” According to the source, Russell said Clooney started it.
In the “Huckabees” NYT piece, Russell also speaks about the Tomlin screaming match. “Sure, I wish I hadn’t done that. But Lily and I are fine,” he says, while Tomlin takes partial blame and claims that “it’s not a practice on his part or my part.” Of course, it’s worth noting that this was back in 2004, and by 2015, Tomlin said she was over the incident. “We’ve overcome it,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “It dissipates and it’s gone.” Bale also spoke about his time on the “American Hustle” set with GQ years later, saying that he acted as a “mediator” between Adams and Russell and again invoking the director’s unique talents. “When you’re working with people of the crazy creative talent of Amy or of David, there are gonna be upsets,” he explained.
The fact remains that over the past two-plus decades, the pile of horror stories involving Russell has grown so high that it’s reached near-Scott Rudin-level proportions. That’s not just our opinion, either: It’s a comparison made by people like media studies professor Kate Fortmueller, who in 2022 told The Washington Post that filmmakers who make Oscar-winning or money-making movies often get more leeway than they should. “‘Are these conditions markedly worse than the ones I’ve experienced?'” Fortmueller imagined actors working with people like this must ask themselves: “Is it worth it for me to do this for an Oscar nomination?’ For some people, it will be worth it.”
After that article was published, “Amsterdam” went on to earn zero Oscar nominations. It was also a box office bomb. Maybe Clooney’s right, and it’s not worth it anymore. Maybe it never was.
