David O. Russell

Director

• Born: August 20, 1958
• Place of Birth: New York City, New York

Contribution: David O. Russell is an Academy Award–nominated director and screenwriter best known for the films Three Kings (1999), The Fighter (2010), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and Amsterdam (2022).

Background

David Owen Russell was born on August 20, 1958, in New York City, New York. His father, Bernard, was a sales executive at Simon & Schuster publishers, while his mother, Maria, was a homemaker and political activist. When Russell was young, the family moved to San Francisco and lived there for three years before moving east again to Larchmont, New York. He attended Mamaroneck High School in nearby Mamaroneck.

As Russell grew up, he became interested in writing and literature. He later attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he studied English under novelist Robert Stone and religion with Professor Robert Thurman, a Buddhist writer. Russell graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in English and political science.

After graduating, Russell moved to Nicaragua, where he taught English for four months. During this time, he became interested in political activism, but soon left the country, disillusioned with its politics. Upon returning to the United States, Russell began writing screenplays at night. He became interested in film, and soon realized that political activism was not something he wanted to pursue full-time. He moved to Washington, DC, in the early 1980s with the hopes of beginning a film career.

Career

Russell’s first job in Washington was as a production assistant on the 1984 documentary series Smithsonian World. He was able to find other such jobs but was still set on making his own films. In 1985, Russell shot his first piece, a documentary entitled Boston to Panama. Influenced by his political activism with Boston labor organizations, the short film focused on the day-to-day lives of immigrant workers.

With his sights set on feature filmmaking, Russell followed the documentary in 1987 with his first fictional short, Bingo Inferno, a thirteen-minute comedy. The film received a screening spot at the Sundance Film Festival in 1987, where positive responses encouraged Russell to continue making shorts. In 1990, he released Hairway to the Stars, an absurdist comedy about an elderly woman’s surreal fantasies. The film was shown at the Sundance, Seattle, and London film festivals.

Because Russell’s short films had garnered critical praise at their festival screenings, the young director was able to collect $80,000 in private funding as well as grants from the New York Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts to embark on his first feature film, Spanking the Monkey (1994). Starring Jeremy Davies, the film’s plot centers around the incestuous relationship between a young man and his ailing mother. Though the film generated controversy once released, critics praised it for its dark humor, and it won the Audience Award for favorite dramatic film at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.

Russell next wrote and directed the 1996 comedy Flirting with Disaster. Ben Stiller, Patricia Arquette, and Téa Leoni starred in this film about a family man who is unsatisfied with life and goes on a quest to find his biological parents. The film debuted at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, where it was received positively and became popular in independent and art-house cinemas but earned little at the box office.

Since Russell had continued to prove himself with low-budget film success, he received in 1999 his first major studio backing and large budget. Russell adapted a story by writer John Ridley and wrote the screenplay for Three Kings. With $75 million to work with, Russell was able to hire big-name actors for his large-scale production, and soon Mark Wahlberg, George Clooney, and Ice Cube were onboard to star in this dark comic heist film set during the Gulf War.

The production of Three Kings became infamous after numerous stories concerning Russell’s abusive and violent on-set behavior leaked to the press. Russell became known for launching into tirades of verbal abuse against his cast and crew, and Clooney defended his coworkers when this occurred. On one occasion, Russell threw an extra to the ground in an attempt to show him how to throw someone down himself. While Russell later claimed that he was simply instructing the extra, Clooney saw the incident as physical abuse and confronted Russell about this and all his past behavior, which resulted in a brief physical altercation.

Three Kings made a fair profit at the box office and was well received by critics, despite problems behind the scenes and the studio’s misgivings concerning Russell’s use of handheld cameras to give the film a documentary feel, a technique he would continue to use throughout his career.

Russell’s next effort was 2004’s I Heart Huckabees, a comedy starring Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, and Mark Wahlberg. The story concerns two existentialist detectives who are hired to investigate the meaning of a social activist’s life after he finds himself lost in the universe. During production, Russell’s now-infamous temper manifested itself again, this time with actress Lily Tomlin. Though the film did not take in as much profit as Three Kings, it was a hit among critics.

Russell returned to film in 2010 after a six-year hiatus with The Fighter, a biopic about boxing champion Micky Ward, played by Mark Wahlberg, and his older half-brother, Dicky Eklund, played by Christian Bale. The film was a widespread success, earning more than $100 million and earning Bale and Melissa Leo, who plays Ward’s mother, Academy Awards for best supporting actor and best supporting actress, respectively. The film was nominated for best picture, and Russell himself was nominated for best director.

In 2012, Russell directed Silver Linings Playbook, a dramedy based on the novel by Matthew Quick. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro, and centers around a man with bipolar disorder who forms a relationship with a woman and must work to heal his strained relationship with his father. The film was strongly praised by critics and took in more than $200 million at the box office. While Lawrence won the Academy Award for best actress, Russell was nominated for best adapted screenplay and best director.

Russell’s next feature film was 2013’s American Hustle—a crime drama starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Robert De Niro. He served as both screenwriter and director for the critically acclaimed piece and was nominated for the 2014 Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA for best director. The film itself was a contender for the Directors Guild of America feature film award in 2013. Russell and Eric Warren Singer shared the BAFTA for best original screenplay.

In 2015, Russell directed Accidental Love, the result of a misbegotten romantic comedy provisionally titled Nailed, which was released under the pseudonym Stephen Green and proved a commercial flop despite its commentary on the US health insurance system. That same year, Joy reunited Lawrence and De Niro as costars. He was also a screenwriter and producer for that multigenerational family saga, which met with mixed reviews upon its release. Russell went on to create a surrealist short film with Miuccia Prada titled Past Forward (2016), which draws inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock, among other influences.

The following year, a high-priced Russell television drama starring De Niro and Julianne Moore was canceled by Amazon Studios after sexual-assault allegations were levied against Harvey Weinstein of the Weinstein Company, a coproduction company for the show.

Russell produced the 2022 film Amsterdam, which stars Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington. Despite a great deal of buzz and plenty of awards-season speculation, the movie had only one nomination for a major award organization, BAFTA, for costuming.

In 2024, Russell signed on to direct two future projects, both biographical dramas. One, Madden, was set to star Nicolas Cage as the former NFL coach who gave his name to the iconic football video game series. The other was a yet-to-be titled film about singer Linda Ronstadt.

Impact

After wavering between career paths in his early days, David O. Russell eventually settled on filmmaking, a choice that brought him almost unanimous praise from his initial independent days to his big-budget productions with A-list actors. Though his on-set anger has created controversy—George Clooney has said working with Russell was miserable—it has not stood in the way of Russell’s success as a writer and director.

Personal Life

At the 1987 Sundance Film Festival, Russell met his future wife, Janet Grillo. They married in 1992 and had a son, Matthew Antonio Grillo Russell, in 1994. The two divorced in 2007. He also adopted a son, Leo, with Holly Davis.

Bibliography

"David O. Russell." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm0751102/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024.

Dunn, Billie Schwab. "George Clooney Reignites Feud with David O. Russell—'Making My Life Hell.'" Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2024, www.newsweek.com/george-clooney-david-o-russell-reignites-feud-1938956. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.

Hughes, Mark. “Director David O. Russell Talks Silver Linings Playbook & What It Means To Him.” Forbes. Forbes.com, 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 25 June 2013.

Ryan, Mike. “David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook Director, on Reinventing Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.” Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 November 2012. Web. 25 June 2013.

Ryzik, Melena. “Behind the Camera, Checking the Ego.” New York Times. New York Times Co., 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 25 June 2013.

Vilkomerson, Sara. “The Softer Side of David O. Russell.” Entertainment Weekly 30 Nov. 2012: 56–57. Print.

Winter, Jessica. “Extreme-Sports Moviemaking.” Time 3 Dec. 2012: 66–67. Print.