George Clooney Talks About David O. Russell The Way Everyone In Hollywood Should

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | August 14, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | August 14, 2024 |

White, male directors get away with almost anything in Hollywood as long as their movies bring in that cheddar. Hell, plenty of directors of that same ilk release bomb after bomb and still get more chances to lord over film sets like kings. But there’s something extra annoying about directors who are miserable to work with for various reasons but continue to get work because their movies are good. Big celebrities will work with them, sing their praises, and then they’ll finally spill the tea years later.

It’s good when people in power draw attention to s***ty behavior. It shouldn’t be discouraged. Things would just be better if it happened sooner. The only way to keep jerks from abusing other people is by calling them out early and often. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. But, in Hollywood, where who you know is the name of the game, people tend to play along until it no longer affects them. That’s at least the case with George Clooney and his relationship with director David O. Russell.

Russell sucks with a capital S. He verbally abused Lily Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees, though she later said she adored him. The director was such a prick to Amy Adams while filming American Hustle that Christian Bale had to get in his face about it. During the shoot for Three Kings, Clooney got into a fistfight with Russell because he had been physically and verbally abusing crew members. Regardless, he spent years saying that things were fine between the two.

Now, it’s a different story. Clooney is no longer in the mood to put up with abusive directors, whether or not they made Silver Linings Playbook. Clooney has gotten older and his time has become more precious. “The older you get, time allotment is very different,” Clooney explained to GQ in a recent interview. “Five months out of your life is a lot.” Now, that could be about anybody. But, Clooney then goes out of his way to address his old sparring partner.

The idea of making an Oscar-winning film is not enticing enough to get the Ocean’s Eleven lead back on set with Russell. “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*** like David O Russell making my life hell. Making every person in the crew’s life hell,’” Clooney continued. “It’s not worth it. Not at this point in my life. Just to have a good product.”

George Clooney has addressed his altercation with Russell before, but it has always felt like, “I don’t want to ruin this guy’s career,” or maybe he didn’t want to face any retaliation. This feels much more direct. Everyone should talk about Russell this way. No one should be able to abuse their co-workers and still keep their jobs. But if no one says anything, nothing changes.