Update: A reader has pointed out to us that during an interview with AICN for WonderCon for “Prince Of Persia,” Jake Gyllenhaal revealed: “…I did this movie with David O. Russell which has yet to come out….’Nailed’ or ‘The Nail’ I think we are calling it now….” A title change? Perhaps this thing is bit farther along than we think?
It’s six years since we saw a new film from David O. Russell, one of our favorite working filmmakers. He’s currently finishing up the boxing drama “The Fighter” with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, and is about to move onto the horror-comedy “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” but we would have seen something new from the director much sooner were it not for the financial woes of Capitol Films.
Production on “Nailed” started in 2008, but it was shut down four times due to cashflow issues, the final time only two days before shooting was scheduled to finish, and rumors have been rife ever since that the film might never be completed. Russell’s known for chaotic shoots (allegedly being headbutted by George Clooney on the set of “Three Kings” after manhandling an extra; the famous Lily Tomlin incident on “I Heart Huckabees”) but, despite James Caan walking off the set on his first day of filming, the problems here appear to have been down to producer David Bergstein; at last count, there were at least 89 different debtors knocking at the door of Capitol Films.
Bergstein’s given another why-does-everyone-pick-on-me interview to The Hollywood Reporter, and, in the midst of blaming everyone in the world bar himself for his predicament, there’s a little snippet of news on Russell’s film. The report says that, when his investors DB Zwirn & CO collapsed, Bergstein was left “unable to pay bills or make payments on movies in production such as ‘Nailed,’ which is only now being finished” (our italics). It remains unclear what stage the film’s currently at (surely Russell is fairly busy in post-production on “The Fighter” at this point?), but this seems to back up recent rumors that the film might appear in some form at Cannes, almost certainly as part of the marketplace, rather than in competition.
But that said there are still more questions than answers: is David O. Russell even involved at this point? How was the film gotten around the fact that the last two days of scheduled filming that were never completed included key scenes for the film? Does anyone even believe what Bergstein says?
The film, which follows an uninsured receptionist (Jessica Biel) who has a nail lodged in her head in an accident, and travels to Washington to campaign for healthcare, falling in with an ambitious congressman (Jake Gyllenhaal), has always sounded intriguing, and has a very strong supporting cast including James Brolin (who replaced Caan), Tracy Morgan, Catherine Keener and James Marsden, so we’re pleased that it might finally emerging into the world, even if, considering its subject matter, it would have been more topical if it had made its original release date. Having said that, we’ll only believe it when we’re sitting in the theater on opening weekend.