Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell has developed quite a reputation for being abusive toward the people he’s worked with over the years. In 2016, Amy Adams told British GQ that Russell made her cry every day on the set of 2013’s American Hustle. Russell was also caught on tape cursing out Lily Tomlin while the two were filming a scene from their 2004 film I Heart Huckabees.
You can check out a clip of that incident below, should you be so inclined.
Evidently, Russell didn’t learn his lesson after getting into a physical altercation with George Clooney in 1998. In a 2000 interview with Playboy, Clooney explained that he and Russell had several disagreements while filming Three Kings, all of which concerned the way Russell treated people. The first instance involved a camera-car driver Clooney knew from high school. Russell started yelling at the unnamed man one day, embarrassing him in front of everyone, prompting Clooney to have words with the director.
On another occasion, Russell made the script supervisor cry. This time, Clooney decided to write Russell a letter expressing his discomfort with Russell’s behavior. According to Clooney, they were able to move forward without incident from there—temporarily, at least. Before long, Russell got angry with an extra who was supposed to throw Clooney to the ground in one scene, and that’s when all hell broke loose.
George Clooney Once Said He Nearly Killed David O. Russell on the Set of ‘Three Kings’
Russell reportedly threw the extra to the ground and kicked him at one point. When Clooney confronted Russell, Russell turned on him and yelled, “Why don’t you just worry about your f—ked-up act? You’re being a d—k. You want to hit me? You want to hit me? Come on, pu—y, hit me.” Russell then allegedly banged his head against Clooney’s and grabbed him by the throat, causing Clooney to go nuts, by his own admission. “I had him by the throat. I was going to kill him. Kill him,” Clooney remembered.
According to Clooney, Russell finally apologized, and they somehow managed to finish the movie, but Clooney later called it the “worst experience” of his life. Despite having made up with Russell, Clooney had the following to say about his former collaborator in 2024: “The older you get, time allotment is very different. Five months out of your life is a lot. And so it’s not just like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go do a really good film, like Three Kings, and I’m going to have a miserable f—k like David O. Russell making my life hell. Making every person on the crew’s life hell.’”
In conclusion, Clooney said it wouldn’t be worth it for him to work with someone like Russell again just to deliver a good product.
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