George Clooney is still holding a grudge over David O. Russell more than 25 years after their verbal and physical fighting during production of 1999 film “Three Kings.”
Clooney is now telling GQ that no film is “worth” working with a “miserable fuck like David O. Russell.” We’re just a few months away from that acclaimed film’s 25th anniversary, but don’t count on any birthday screenings happening any time soon.
So, what happened between Clooney and Russell? They got into a physical fight on the set of “Three Kings” after Russell was allegedly insulting extras on set. During the film’s release, Clooney told Playboy magazine that working on “Three Kings” was “the worst experience of my life.”
If there weren’t so many incidents involving his bad behavior, Russell would just be known as the guy who fought Clooney, but that’s not the case. Most recently, Russell punched a Sony exec in the stomach at an Oscar party. Yes, he actually did that.
Russell also put Christopher Nolan in a headlock at a party because Jude Law wanted to be in Nolan’s movie instead of his. The temperament on this guy …
Amy Adams admitted to crying almost every day on the set of “American Hustle” — the actress told GQ, “He was hard on me, that’s for sure. It was a lot.” However, absolutely nothing will beat leaked on set footage of 2004’s “I Heart Huckabees”, where we can see actress Lily Tomlin absolutely losing it on Russell in between takes.
We’re not entirely sure if Russell has become persona non grata in Hollywood. His last film, 2022’s critically panned “Amsterdam,” lost Searchlight over $100 million. It wasn’t as bad as critics claimed it to be, but it also wasn’t as good as it should have been.
Ever since then, Russell has been piling on the projects, but none of them seem to be gaining much momentum. We’re not sure if his Linda Ronstadt biopic, starring Selena Gomez, will ever happen. He has two other projects currently in active development: a John Madden biopic with Will Ferrell and the Sacha Baron Cohen led “Super Toys.”
Reeves is supposed to direct, David E. Kelley is writing, and just like that, Apple got cold feet — the usual “creative differences” excuse is being cited in the report, and maybe that was indeed the case.