David O. Russell
David O. Russell was born in Manhattan, New York, United States on August 20th, 1958 and is the Director. At the age of 65, David O. Russell biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 65 years old, David O. Russell has this physical status:
After graduating from Amherst, Russell traveled to Nicaragua and taught in a Sandinista literacy program. He worked in waitering, bartending, and catering. Some of his bartending colleagues included members of the Blue Man Group. He worked for a booksellers' association and later became a community organizer in Maine. He used video equipment to document slums and bad housing conditions, which later became a documentary of Lewiston, Maine. Russell was a political activist and canvassed and raised money in neighborhoods; he also did community work in Boston's South End. In addition to working in several day jobs, he began to write short films.
Russell directed a documentary about Panamanian immigrants in Boston, which led to a job as a production assistant on a PBS series called Smithsonian World.
In 1987, Russell wrote, produced, and directed Bingo Inferno: A Parody on American Obsessions, a short film about an obsessive bingo-playing mother. Two years later, he made another short titled Hairway to the Stars, which featured Bette Davis and William Hickey. Both shorts were shown at the Sundance Film Festival.
After Russell made an award-winning short film for a Boston television station, he received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Instead of the money going towards a feature about a fortune cookie writer, he decided to make Spanking the Monkey, a film about an incestuous mother-son relationship. As a result, Russell had to return the funds to the NEA.
Spanking the Monkey, the 1994 independent dark comedy, was his first directorial effort. The film was produced by Dean Silvers, and starred Jeremy Davies as a troubled young man and Alberta Watson as his lonely mother. Despite the controversial 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 next project was the Miramax comedy Flirting with Disaster (1996), his second collaboration with Dean Silvers, and first with Harvey Weinstein. The film follows a neurotic man (Ben Stiller) who travels with his wife (Patricia Arquette) and a high-strung caseworker (Téa Leoni) to find his biological parents. The film also starred Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, Alan Alda, Josh Brolin, Richard Jenkins, and Lily Tomlin. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, and was well received by most critics. Roger Ebert said of the direction, "Russell finds the strong central line all screwball begins with, the seemingly serious mission or quest, and then throws darts at a map of the United States as he creates his characters." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a 'B' and declared it "one of the ha-ha funniest comedies currently at a theater near you."
Three Kings
The success of those two films led to the satirical Gulf War black comedy Three Kings (1999), starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze. Adapted from an earlier script by former stand-up comic John Ridley, the film follows three American GIs who devise a plan to steal hidden Kuwaiti gold during the 1991 Iraqi uprising against Saddam Hussein. Filmed in the deserts of Arizona, California and Mexico, and featuring actual Iraqi refugees as extras, Russell used several unique cinematic techniques to achieve a feeling of realism. He filmed using handheld cameras and Steadicam, and shot on Ektachrome slide photography stock that was cross processed in colour negative chemicals, to reproduce "the odd colour of the newspaper images [of the Gulf War]." He also insisted on filming all of the explosions in one shot, unlike a typical action film.
Three Kings was released in 1999 and was his biggest critical and financial success. It grossed $60 million in the United States and over $100 million worldwide. It holds a 94% at Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus "Three Kings successfully blends elements of action, drama, and comedy into a thoughtful, exciting movie on the Gulf War." It ended up being the first of several collaborations with Mark Wahlberg.
I Heart Huckabees
Russell's next project was the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004). During pre-production in 2003, it was reported that Jude Law dropped the film to star in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006), but after Russell headlocked Nolan at a Hollywood party, demanding that "his fellow director show artistic solidarity and give up his star in order to save Huckabees", Nolan dropped Law from his film. The film ended up receiving mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, but recent collaborator Jennifer Lawrence called it her favorite David O. Russell film.
Nailed
Nailed is a political comedy co-written by Russell and Kristin Gore, and stars Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tracy Morgan, Catherine Keener, Paul Reubens, James Brolin and Kirstie Alley. Production was delayed or shut down four times in 2008, resulting in IATSE shutting down production because the crew was not getting paid. Actor James Caan left mid-production "due to creative differences and [the] split was amicable."
The film revolves around the character of Alice Eckle (played by Jessica Biel) who gets accidentally shot in the head with a nail by a clumsy workman, eliciting wild sexual urges. The uninsured Eckle goes on a crusade to Washington to fight for the rights of the bizarrely injured. She meets an immoral congressman (Jake Gyllenhaal) who takes advantage of her sex drive and capitalizes on her crusade as Eckle heads into her own career in politics. Russell ceased working on the film in 2010; it was retitled Accidental Love and was released on VOD on February 10, 2015, before a limited release on March 20, 2015
The Fighter
In 2010, Russell returned with The Fighter, a biographical sports drama produced by and starring Mark Wahlberg. The film focuses on junior welterweight boxer Mickey Ward's rise to claim the WBU Light Welterweight title, as well as his difficult relationship with his mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo), and his older half-brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale). The film became a major critical and financial success, grossing $125 million, and appearing on several critics' year-end top ten lists. The Fighter also received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Russell, the first of his career, and earned awards for both Bale and Leo, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
Silver Linings Playbook
Silver Linings Playbook was adapted from the serio-comic novel by Matthew Quick. Bradley Cooper plays Pat and Robert De Niro, who starred with Cooper in Limitless, co-stars as his father. Jennifer Lawrence plays the lead female role of Tiffany. She commented about Russell, "He's really my favorite director since I started watching movies." The cast also includes Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker and the veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher. The film was released in the United States and Canada on November 16, 2012.
Russell received the Hollywood Director Award at the 16th annual Hollywood Film Awards and an Indie Impact Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival for his work on the film, as well as two Independent Spirit Awards (Best Director, Best Screenplay), two Satellite Awards (Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay), a BAFTA Film Award (Adapted Screenplay), and the AFI Award for Movie of the Year. Silver Linings Playbook won the People's Choice Award at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and garnered four Golden Globe Award nominations (with one win for Jennifer Lawrence, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy) and eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Russell), Best Adapted Screenplay (Russell), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Bradley Cooper), Best Actress in a Leading Role (winner, Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jacki Weaver) and Best Film Editing (Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers).
Silver Linings Playbook is about a former teacher named Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), who suffers from bipolar disorder, and moves back in with his family. He is initially obsessive about reuniting with his spouse after having discovered her with a lover and assaulting the man; however, the story explores the development of his relationship with Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence). The film was inspired by Devereaux Glenholme School, a 12-month special education boarding school in Washington, CT. Russell's son is currently a student there, and Russell stated, "I was so familiar with the issues in the story that I knew how emotional and funny and original it could be. Without this community I would never have made this film."
American Hustle
Russell's next project was American Hustle (2013), a comedy based on the ABSCAM scandal of the 1970s. The film's plot revolved around skilled con artists Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) being forced to work for unhinged FBI Agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Their complicated operation eventually involves Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) of Camden, New Jersey, as well as Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence). The film reunited Russell with Bale and Adams after The Fighter, as well as with Cooper, Lawrence, and De Niro after Silver Linings Playbook. Saïd Taghmaoui, the Iraqi captain from Three Kings, also makes an appearance.
The film received seven Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture Comedy & Best Director for Russell, and three wins including Best Motion Picture Comedy, Best Actress for Amy Adams and Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. Additionally, the film received ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, along with a Screen Actors Guild Award win for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Joy
In January 2014, it was announced that Russell would rewrite and direct a comedy-drama film about American inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano, a struggling Long Island single mother of three children. Jennifer Lawrence played the lead role in the film. Principal photography began on February 17, 2015, and the film, titled Joy, was released on December 25, 2015.
The film received mixed to positive reviews, focusing mainly on the strong central performance by actor Jennifer Lawrence, Russell's direction, and the supporting performances by Diane Ladd, Robert De Niro, and others. Featured music in the film was a driving force behind the narrative, including a reworked a cappella version of Cream's "I Feel Free". Strong box office greeted the film's first five days, with a $5900-per-screen average, and 25 million dollars in gross receipts, according to Box Office Mojo; it grossed a worldwide total of over $101 million.
The film was nominated for 2 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Musical or Comedy, and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Jennifer Lawrence, which she won. Lawrence was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the film's only Oscar nomination.
Past Forward
Written and directed by Russell, Past Forward was a short film collaboration between the director and Prada. A clip of the film premiered in September 2016 at Milan Fashion Week, and premiered November 2016 in Los Angeles. In the short film, Russell uses three actors for the same roles including Kuoth Wiel, Freida Pinto and Allison Williams. The film has been described as a "surreal dreamscape with an eclectic cast replaying scenes in shifting combinations".
Amsterdam
In January 2020, it was announced that Russell would be writing and directing Amsterdam, produced by Regency Enterprises. Russell will be teaming up with Christian Bale for the third time, with Margot Robbie also joining the film. In October 2020 it was announced that John David Washington had joined the cast of the film, with filming scheduled to begin in January 2021. The same month that filming began, Rami Malek and Zoe Saldaña joined the cast. A trailer was released in July 2022, 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.