David O. Russell

Started by Ernie, February 18, 2003, 11:15:52 AM

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Just Withnail

Your dabbling into sentences is admirable. Now you should move on to paragraphs.

Pubrick

Quote from: Just Withnail on May 19, 2010, 05:14:20 PM
Your dabbling into sentences is admirable. Now you should move on to paragraphs.

great to see you posting again (big fan of Borin Hood and also what you tried to do here) but i think you'll live to regret this..
under the paving stones.

Just Withnail

Glad to be welcomed!

But shit...I'm kinda glad it fell on it's face, as looking through my posts I discovered I myself haven't posted more than two lines each, since 2007.

modage

David O. Russell Gives Up on 'Nailed'
Source: Cinematical

After the brilliance of I Heart Huckabees, I've been holding out hope for two years that David O. Russell and Nailed would find a way to move beyond its many production woes and head to the big screen. Things looked dim last year when reports said that key scenes were missing and the project had been abandoned. But it couldn't be the end. There had to be a way for O. Russell's vision of a woman who suffers a nail to the head, begins to have wild sexual urges, and hits Washington to fight for the rights of the bizarrely injured, to get to the big screen.

We were almost there -- the filmmaker had been in talks to finally get the movie finished -- but now that dream has come to an end, and it's moving to new hands.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that O. Russell has ended his involvement with the production after negotiating to finally finish the film. Here's where things get interesting: The director was talking with Ron Tutor, the man getting ready to buy Miramax from Disney. If you've followed his Hollywood trajectory, he was working with David Bergstein, the head of Pegasus Studios, which included Capitol Films and THINKFilm -- the studios making Nailed. After all of the monetary mess, Tutor distanced himself from Bergstein and started discussions with O. Russell to finally get through the remaining scenes and finish the film. The talks broke down, and the filmmaker says:

    This has been a painful process for me. The multiple production delays and stoppages, which were caused by David Bergstein and preceded Ron Tutor's direct involvement with me, have now spanned two years, and the circumstances under which the film would now be completed are much different on several fundamental levels than when we embarked several years ago. I, unfortunately, am no longer involved in the project and cannot call it 'my' film. I wish Ron Tutor well.

Financier Tutor, meanwhile, said:

    Russell conducted himself like a perfect gentleman. I understood his position. It really didn't have anything to do with him but with others, and we just reached a point where I couldn't do what he wanted. But it was a decent negotiation between the two of us. No lawyers. No idle threats, just two people trying to clean something up, and we couldn't get there. It was surprising and disappointing, but I understood.

It sounds like an unfortunate turn of events, but there's a little more to it. The "others" who Tutor blames for the failed agreement are producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher. In a statement issued today, they said: "We have been informed that we will be unable to stay involved with the movie Nailed unless we agree to make concessions that are unfair, unprofessional, and detrimental to the movie." Sources say those concessions are cutting their fees in half.

It certainly seems unfair to be asked to halve your pay by a man whose previous partner had a myriad of shut-downs because no one was getting paid by the company. Now Tutor is looking to find a new director and get Biel and Tracy Morgan back for the required reshoots. With that, we might just see some actors get brassed off at the new Hollywood player as well. He says their contract allows for free reshoots.

But me, I'm out. Nailed isn't Nailed without David O. Russell.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pubrick

That's a shame, this guy needs a comeback like Cameron Crowe needs a comeback. It's sort of embarrassing now to think that he was once spoken of in the same breath as PTA and I guess other people who also didn't amount to shit (Wes Anderson, Alexander Payne).

At least he didn't punch anyone out this time.
under the paving stones.

MacGuffin

David O. Russell won't find gold with 'Drake's Fortune'
Source: Los Angeles Times

Video game junkies and fans of throwback adventures might have been at the very least amused, if not intrigued, by the idea of David. O. Russell taking on "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune."

As we wrote in May, the auteur was being considered for the director's chair on the Sony video game adaptation, which would have offered the prospect of the man who gave us the dark comedy of "Spanking the Monkey" and "Flirting with Disaster" rolling his sleeves up on material that had a lot in common with "Romancing the Stone" and the Indiana Jones franchise. (The game is about a descendant of Sir Francis Drake fighting his way to treasure and romance on a mysterious island.)

In the last few weeks, Russell, the studio and producers (Charles Roven of "The Dark Knight" fame is one) had been negotiating for  Russell to come aboard. But the parties haven't been able to come to terms so they're going their separate ways, sources say. Producers and the studio are going back to the drawing board. They'll look for a new director -- and first they may even look for a star or two to join the project. (With the male and female co-leads, it's essentially a two-hander, so expect the casting process to be involved.)

What all this means is that even the faintest hopes that "Fortune" could be a 2011 movie -- Sony at one point had even thought about fast-tracking it for a release next summer --- have been extinguished. The studio wasn't immediately available for comment.

Russell, who recently walked away from the stop-and-start production drama of indie dark comedy "Nailed," has no hard greenlight for a new movie but does have a few projects in the hopper, including a dramedy with Vince Vaughn about a traveling salesman and his daughter, "Old St. Louis," that he's eager to get made and which could soon move forward. As for those trying to make a movie about treasure-seeking adventurers, they'll need to keep looking.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

David O Russell Signs On To Direct Video Game Adaptation 'Uncharted: Drake's Fortune'
Source: The Playlist

It's been a busy few weeks for director David O. Russell. With his comeback film "The Fighter" on its way, and looking set to be a major player in the awards season, he's leaping on and off projects like a man possessed. He was reported not so long ago to be considering the Jim Carrey comedy "Under Cover," and it was reported only a few days ago that, along with star Natalie Portman, he'd dropped out of "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" in favor of the comedy "Old St. Louis," with Vince Vaughn and Chloe Moretz, which is set to shoot next March. Now, the maverick director, who seems to become less and less of a maverick as time goes on, has signed on to another project that he'd been linked to, one that, not so long ago, it seemed that he had turned down. Columbia Pictures announced last night (via Coming Soon) that Russell had signed on to write and direct the tentpole "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune," an adaptation of the blockbuster Playstation 3 game. The game focused on Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Francis Drake and a treasure hunter, as he searches for the lost treasure of El Dorado, with the help of a journalist. Russell was reported to have been offered the project, the first draft of which was written by "Conan" scribes Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, back in May, but by August negotiations were said to have fallen apart. Clearly, whatever the sticking point was, it has been resolved, as Russell will rewrite Donnelly and Oppenheimer's script, and direct the film. Columbia president Matt Tolmach said in a press release that "David is a tremendous choice to take on this film. He's equally adept at combining all the classic elements involved in this property: great character development, strong comedy and amazing action sequences. He has a brilliant vision for this material and we know he will bring his original, unique voice to this adaptation." We certainly hope so, because we're not wild about this announcement. The list of good movies made from video games currently stands at a big fat zero, and the derivative nature of "Uncharted" —basically Indiana Jones meets... no, just Indiana Jones —doesn't suggest anything groundbreaking. Having said that, Russell will hopefully be able to bring something fresh to the genre —among its many qualities, "Three Kings" also managed to be a kick-ass action film, so it's not entirely new territory for the filmmaker. But between this, the rather conventional trailer for "The Fighter" and the not-hugely-promising-on-paper "Old St. Louis," we rather pine for the filmmaker who could get something as bonkers as "I Heart Huckabees" made. There's no word on a start date for the project —Sony were once fast-tracking it for a release next summer, but that certainly isn't happening. If the rumors of filming in March are correct, we imagine that "Old St. Louis" will come first as Russell works on the script. Fans of the game, start your fantasy casting now! (n.b. anyone who says the words "Fillion" and "Nathan," in any order, is sadly deluded.). And note according to the LAT, O. Russell has officially passed on "Under Cover" so we can wipe it off his long-list of potential projects.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Ravi

I'd rather see a documentary on David O'Russell than this movie based on a video game about Sir Francis Drake's descendant who blah blah blah...

wilder

Fox Searchlight Eyeing David O. Russell For Russ Meyer Biopic
via The Playlist

David O. Russell really has had one hell of a comeback year. Garnering an Oscar nomination for Best Director this year for "The Fighter" and riding a wave of critical acclaim, Russell has been picking up projects left and right over the past six months or so (and those are just a few of many he's got cooking in various stages).

Deadline reports that he could be adding one more to his plate if the deal goes through. Fox Searchlight is looking to buy a pitch package with Russell directing a biopic about Russ Meyer, the maker of B-movies like "Super Vixens" and "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!." Meyer started making his exploitation films in the '60s, right at the beginning of the sexual revolution. He was a jack of all trades—he wrote, directed, produced, financed and often distributed his own films—and placed beautiful women with big breasts in central roles. His story would undoubtedly be a fascinating and very colorful one.

The script will be written by Merritt Johnson, a talented television writer of the award-winning HBO miniseries "Temple Grandin" and many episodes of their brilliant "In Treatment." He also wrote the screenplay for "Lovelace," one of the two biopics in production about the porn star Linda Lovelace (this one, not the Lindsey Lohan/Malin Akerman one). Johnson has grown in favor as a screenwriter after serving as Russell's assistant on "Three Kings."

Fox Searchlight is still trying to work out the deal, so nothing is set in stone yet. They first have to secure the rights to Jimmy McDonough's biography "Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film." So yet another iron in the growing fire for David O. Russell with still no firm word on what will come next for the helmer.

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I really hope this happens.

MacGuffin

David O. Russell Vacates The Director's Chair For 'Uncharted'
Source: The Playlist

What is going on today? Is it the upcoming Memorial Day weekend that has director's want to clear out the projects they no longer want to do? After all, how fun is it to enjoy a BBQ with some nagging movie project in the back of your mind. Just moments after it was revealed that Albert Hughes bounced from "Akira," Deadline reports that David O. Russell has left the director's chair for "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune." The move comes as a bit of surprise considering how much heat had built up around the project. As recently as February, the director was saying he liked Scarlett Johansson (whom he nearly made aborted "Old St. Louis" with) for the role of Elena in the movie that already had Mark Wahlberg, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci linked to the film. In December the director said the script was halfway done but if we were betting men, we'd wager another project has taken a much bigger priority for Russell. A few months ago, we caught up with the director at the ACE Eddie Awards and he said, "I'm working on 'Drake's Fortune' right now. I'm really digging it, I think the story's coming together in a really intense cool way, and I also have a project with the Weinsteins called 'The Silver Linings Playbook' and I might also work on something at Universal called 'Two Guns' so those are the things I'm looking at right now, I might also do something called 'Cocaine Cowboys' with Mark Wahlberg so there's lots of things we're looking at." With Mark Wahlberg recently joining "The Silver Linings Playbook" and kickstarting that long gestating project back to life, we'd guess that Russell is now putting his full attention on re-teaming with his frequent collaborator and "The Fighter" star and that the video game adaptation has lost his interest. Frankly, we're kind of glad. It seemed like an odd mainstream move for the director and after the awards season heat and box office success of "The Fighter" he likely finds himself in a similar position as Darren Aronofsky and "The Wolverine" in no longer needing the validation of a big studio film. Of course, what he goes to next is not confirmed but as far as educated guesses goes, we'd put our money on that one. Of course, he's been liked handful of projects recently including the aforementioned "Cocaine Cowboys" and biopics of Russ Meyer and politician Buddy Cianci. As for 'Uncharted,' the movie is still in the works and a new writer will be found to get new draft of the film in shape.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: MacGuffin on May 26, 2011, 04:43:13 PMWhat is going on today? Is it the upcoming Memorial Day weekend that has director's want to clear out the projects they no longer want to do? After all, how fun is it to enjoy a BBQ with some nagging movie project in the back of your mind.

The Playlist needs a proofreader.

matt35mm

Oh, pretty much every other article at The Playlist has some grammatical or spelling problem, and most of them need to be edited in general. I think they just have to write so many a day that the first drafts are published immediately.

polkablues

I'm pretty happy about this (the news, not the Playlist's editing regimen). I love Russell, but his vision of the movie sounded awful.
My house, my rules, my coffee

modage

Quote from: matt35mm on May 26, 2011, 05:11:08 PM
I think they just have to write so many a day that the first drafts are published immediately.
Yes, it's mainly one guy who has to write 20+ of these a day and (for the most part, if it's breaking news) get them up as soon as possible. Longer pieces/features get more time to edit/refine but breaking news, yeah. It's a jungle out there.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

Angelina Jolie Reportedly Circling David O. Russell's 'The Silver Linings Playbook'
Source: Playlist

With David O. Russell officially dropping out of "Uncharted"—and despite the numerous other options on his plate—the director now appears to be moving full steam ahead on his long in the works film "The Silver Linings Playbook." Russell's BFF4Life Mark Wahlberg joined the film last month and he may be joined by one of the biggest actresses around town. JustJared reports that Angelina Jolie will be meeting with Russell this week about the film, so nothing is official, but if they're correct, clearly she's at least intrigued. The plot involves Pat Peoples (Wahlberg), a former high school teacher who, after being released from a four-year stint in a mental institution, moves back in with his mother; he then seeks to remake himself in the hopes of reconciling with his ex-wife. Back in December Bradley Cooper and Anne Hathaway were briefly linked to main the leads, but Cooper as obviously been replaced with Wahlberg (not that he was ever confirmed) and Hathaway seems unlikely at this point. But don't get too excited just yet. Like another other A-list actress, Jolie surrounds herself with options before choosing anything. With "Salt 2," "Maleficent," "Churchill And Roosevelt" and "Cleopatra" all in various stages of development, timing will likely be factor. Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt tend to stagger their scheduling so they're never both away from their army of children. Not to mention that Jolie is likely still in post-production on her directorial debut "In The Land Of Blood and Honey" and we would guess she'll be on the festival circuit in some capacity this fall. All that said, with Russell proving himself to be a director who can earn Oscar glory for his actors, you can expect other big names actresses to be in the mix. No word on when this will gear up, but if Russell can get the pieces in place, a latter half 2011 start isn't out of the question.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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