Every self-respecting cinephile knows director David O. Russell is an insufferable prick and extremely difficult to work with. Hell, every fair weather fan of filmmaking basically knows it.
He pissed off the Cloon so bad, the actor punched him out and everyone saw his “I Hate Huckabees” onset tantrum (Clooney later called the “Three Kings” shoot as “the worst experience of my life”).
So what’s next? Well, O. Russell is currently shooting the Washington D.C. political satire, “Nailed,” and apparently tough guy actor James Caan was having none of the director’s notorious bullshit and walked offset.
Caan doesn’t suffer fools gladly and is a bit of a miserable prick himself so this combination must’ve been like oil and water from the beginning. His people cited “creative differences,” which is pretty much like, “suffering from exhaustion,” euphemism code for something much bigger actually happened here.
Either way, whatever went down was bad enough that Cann left the film project entirely. “James Caan did amicably part ways with this production due to creative differences. He wished all of the actors and production crew well when he departed,” his publicist told PopWrap. Update: The Hollywood Reporter says the incident happened on Caan’s first day of shooting!
Caan played the U.S. speaker of the house who chokes to death on a cookie. “Russell asked him to cough as he choked, but Caan argued that the character couldn’t cough and choke to death at the same time.”
Russell suggested that they shoot it both ways, but the actor expressed distrust that his version would be considered and left the South Carolina set. A spokesman laughed, wouldn’t denty or confirm and said “the departure was amicable.” Suuuuuure.
All is not well on the set of “Nailed,” evidently. One report says lead Jake Gyllenhaal has been throwing hissy fits and displaying diva behavior. “He was complaining that the room was too small, complaining about the temperature, complaining about his chair,” our source says. “It was like watching a two-year old have a meltdown every five minutes.”
Is Gyllenhaal just acting out because he now realizes working with O.Russell is a nightmare or is he truly just a baby?
Apparently co-lead Jessica Biel is having a ball and getting on splendidly with the crew. You’d probably be chipper if you were being, ahem, nailed by Justin Timberlake too. We’re sure more drama is forthcoming. Stay tuned…