David O. Russell

At 66 years old, David O. Russell has this physical status:

David Owen Russell (born August 20, 1958) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.

The Monkey (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Three Kings (1999), and I? Huckabees (2004). Critics also recognized three of Russell's most recent films, The biographical sports drama The Fighter (2010), the romantic comedy-drama Playbook (2012), and the comedy-drama American Hustle (2013), as well as a Best Original Screenplay Award for Silver Linings Playbook and a Best Original Screenplay nomination for American Hustle.

Russell received his seventh Golden Globe nomination for Joy (2015), a semi-biographical comedy-drama.

Early life

Russell was born in Larchmont, New York, in an atheist, middle-class household. His parents were employed at Simon & Schuster; his father was the company's vice president of sales, and his mother was a secretary. His father was from a Russian-Jewish family, and his mother was Italian-American (of Lucanian descent). Many of his relatives' relatives were incarcerated in concentration camps, according to his paternal grandfather, a butcher from Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Russell shot people in New York City when he was 13 years old and made his first film for a school project. He attended Mamaroneck High School, where he was named a "Class Rebel." In his teens, he fell in love with film (his favorites films included Taxi Driver, Chinatown, and Shampoo); but, Russell aspired to be a writer; he started a newspaper in high school and wrote short stories. His parents worked for a publishing company, so he grew up in a house stuffed with books and novels.

Russell obtained his A.B. in 1981. He earned his degree from Amherst College, where he concentrated in English and political science. He wrote his senior thesis on the United States' involvement in Chile from 1963 to 1973.

Personal life

Russell was married to Janet Grillo, a Fine Line Features producer who worked from 1992 to 2007. Holly Davis, his partner, has been together since 2007. Davis is a costume designer. Russell has two children, one with Grillo and the other with Davis, who adopted an adopted son. He lives in Santa Monica, California, and is an advocate for mental health care and support, as well as a committed promoter of autism research. Russell's efforts earned him the Most Valuable Puzzle Piece by the Light Up the Night Gala for Autism.

Russell came to Washington, D.C., to speak with vice president Joe Biden and Senator Debbie Stabenow to discuss a new bill on mental health care. Russell appeared on a panel at Paley Center for the Media in May 2014, exposing issues related to mental illness and stigmas. Russell is a member of Represent.Us, a non-partisan anti-corruption group, which is part of Represent.Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption group.

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Career

Russell went to Nicaragua and taught in a Sandinista literacy course after graduating from Amherst. He worked in waitering, bartending, and catering. Members of the Blue Man Group were among his bartending coworkers. He served with a bookseller's group and then became a Maine community organizer. He used video equipment to film slums and poor housing conditions, which later became a film about Lewiston, Maine. Russell, a Boston activist and canvassed and raised money in neighborhoods; he also did community service in Boston's South End. In addition to writing short films, he started writing short films.

Russell produced a film in Boston about Panamanian immigrants, which culminated in a career as a production assistant on a PBS show called Smithsonian World.

Russell wrote, produced, and directed Bingo Inferno: A Parody of American Obsessions, a short film about an obsessive bingo-playing mother. Bette Davis and William Hickey appeared in another short titled Hairway to the Stars, two years later. Both shorts were shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

Russell was given grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts after making an award-winning short film for a Boston television station. Rather than spending the money on a fortune cookie writer, he made Spanking the Monkey, a film about an incestuous mother-son relationship. Russell was also expected to return the funds to the NEA as a result.

The Monkey, the 1994 independent dark comedy, was his first directorial effort. Dean Silvers' film starred Jeremy Davies as a struggling young man and Alberta Watson as his lonely mother. Despite the tense subject matter, the film received critical acclaim and won him Best First Screenplay and Best First Feature from the Independent Spirit Awards, as well as the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Flirting with Disaster

His new project, along with Dean Silvers, was the Miramax comedy Flirting with Disaster (1996), his second collaboration with him and the first with Harvey Weinstein. Ben Stiller (Ben Stiller) is a neurotic man (Patricia Arquette) who flies with his wife (Patricia Arquette) and a high-strung caseworker (Téa Leoni) to find his biological relatives. Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, Alan Alda, Josh Brolin, Richard Jenkins, Richard Jenkins, and Lily Tomlin appeared in the film. Most commentators applauded it as it was shown in the Uncertain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival. "Russell finds the solid central line, the ostensibly lengthy mission or quest, and then throws darts at a map of the United States as he develops his characters," Roger Ebert said of the direction. "One of the havoc funny comedies currently at a theater near you," Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a 'B'.

Three Kings

The success of those two films culminated in the satirical Gulf War black comedy Three Kings (1999), starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze. The film, based on a earlier script by former stand-up comedian John Ridley, follows three American GIs who devised a plot to rob buried Kuwaiti gold during 1991 Iraqi uprising against Saddam Hussein. Russell, who was shot in Arizona, California, and Mexico as extras, created a real sense of realism by filming in the deserts of Arizona, California, and Mexico, and starring real Iraqi refugees as extras. He shot on Ektachrome slide photography stock that was cross processed in color negative chemicals to capture "the strange colour of the newspaper photos [of the Gulf War]." Unlike a typical action film, he insisted on filming all of the explosions in a single shot.

In 1999, Three Kings was his first major and financial success. It earned $60 million in the United States and over $100 million worldwide. At Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 94% win, with the consensus that "Three Kings successfully blends elements of action, tragedy, and comedy into a thoughtful, exciting film about the Gulf War." It was the first of many collaborations with Mark Wahlberg.

I Heart Huckabees

Russell's next project was the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). Jude Law dropped the film to star in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006), but Russell blasted Nolan at a Hollywood party in order to save Huckabees. The film received mixed reviews and underperforms at the box office, but Jennifer Lawrence, the film's current collaborator, named it her favorite David O. Russell film.

Nailed

Nailed is Russell and Kristin Gore's co-written political comedy, starring Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Catherine Keener, Paul Reubens, and Kirstie Alley. In 2008, production was postponed or suspended four times, leading to IATSE's halting of operations due to the crew not being paid. Actor James Caan was forced to cancel mid-production "due to technological gaps, and [the] break was amicable."

Alice Eckle's (played by Jessica Biel) is portrayed in the film and brings out wild sexual urges. Eckle, who is uninsured, is on a trip to Washington to protest for the rights of the curiously wounded. As Eckle enters the political process, she encounters an immoral congressman (Jake Gyllenhaal) who capitalizes on her sex drive and cashes on her crusade. Russell stopped filming in 2010; it was retitled Accidental Love and was released on VOD on February 10, 2015, ahead of a limited launch on March 20, 2015.

The Fighter

Russell returned to The Fighter in 2010, a biographical sports drama starring Mark Wahlberg and starring Russell Wilson. Mickey Ward's film focuses on junior welterweight boxer Mickey Ward's ascension to WBU Light Welterweight (Melissa Leo), as well as his tumultuous friendship with his mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo), and his older half-brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale). The film made a big emotional and financial success, grossing $125 million and appearing on several critics' top ten lists this year. The Fighter received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Russell, the first of his career, and Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, as well as Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

Silver Linings Playbook

The Silver Linings Playbook was based on Matthew Quick's serio-comic book. Bradley Cooper, who appeared with Cooper in Limitless, co-starring Pat and Robert De Niro, and Robert De Niro as his father. Jennifer Lawrence plays Tiffany in the leading female role. Russell was "his absolute favorite director since I started watching movies," she said of him. Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, and veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher also appeared in the film. On November 16, 2012, the film was released in the United States and Canada.

Russell was named Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Palm Springs International Film Festival for his film work, as well as two Independent Spirit Awards (Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay), and the AFI Award for Best Director (Adapted Screenplay). At the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, Silver Linings Playbook received four Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jacki Weaver), Best Supporting Actress (Jacki Weaver), and Best Editing (Jacki and Crispin Struthers), along with one win for Jennifer Lawrence, Best Supporting Actor (Best Picture, Best Director, a Leading Role (Brussell), Best Supporting Actress

Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), a bipolar disorder sufferer, resigns from his childhood, is returning to his family with his family. After discovering she with a lover and assaulting the man, he's initially obsessive about reuniting with his spouse; however, the tale then explores his husband's relationship with Tiffany Maxwell. Russell's son is a student at Devereaux Glenholme School, a 12-month special education boarding school in Washington, CT, and Russell said, "I was so familiar with the film that I knew how emotional and funny and original it could be." I would never have seen this film without this community.

American Hustle

American Hustle (2013), Russell's next project, a parody based on the ABSCAM fiasco of the 1970s. Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) were both forced to work for unhinged FBI Agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) of Camden, New Jersey, as well as Irving's tumultuous wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) are among their ongoing investigations. After The Fighter, Russell with Bale and Adams was reunited, as well as Cooper, Lawrence, and De Niro after the Silver Linings Playbook. Sad Taghmaoui, the Iraqi captain from Three Kings, also appears.

The film received seven Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture Comedy & Best Director for Russell, as well as three others, including Best Motion Picture Comedy, Best Actress for Amy Adams, and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. In addition, the film received ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, as well as a prestigious Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture.

Joy

Russell would rewrite and produce a comedy-drama film about American inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano, a struggling Long Island single mother of three children, in January 2014. Jennifer Lawrence appeared in the film as the lead role. Principal photography began on February 17, 2015, and Joy, the film's title, was released on December 25, 2015.

The film received mixed to positive reviews, mainly due to actor Jennifer Lawrence's solid central role and Diane Laddd's supporting cast members and others. The film's featured music was a driving force behind the plot, including a reworked cappella version of Cream's "I Feel Free." According to Box Office Mojo, a strong box office greeted the film's first five days, with a $5900-per-screen average and 25 million dollars in gross receipts; it grossed over $100 million worldwide.

Jennifer Lawrence's film was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Lawrence was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the film's first Oscar nomination.

Past Forward

Past Forward was a short film comission between Russell and Prada. A clip of the film premiered in September 2016 at Milan Fashion Week in September 2016 and premiered in Los Angeles in November 2016. Russell uses three actors in the short film, including Kuoth Wiel, Freida Pinto, and Allison Williams. The film has been described as a "surreal dreamscape with an eclectic cast reenacting scenes in varying combinations."

Amsterdam

Russell would be writing and directing Amsterdam, a Regency Enterprises product, in January 2020. Russell will be collaborating with Christian Bale for the third time, with Margot Robbie also appearing in the film. John David Washington had joined the cast of the film in October 2020, with filming set to begin in January 2021. Rami Malek and Zoe Salda joined the cast in the first month of filming. In July 2022, a trailer was announced announcing the casting of Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola, Taylor Swift, and Robert De Niro.

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