David O. Russell is a filmmaker with an amazing track record of award-winning films. He’s also a filmmaker with a checkered past when it comes to reports of his on-set actions. Basically, it would appear that actors either love working with the filmmaker or despise it. Regardless of where people fall in that binary, it appears that appearing in a David O. Russell film is an adventure.
Speaking at the world premiere of David O. Russell’s latest film, “Amsterdam” (via Vanity Fair), some of the actors involved shared their thoughts about what it was like working with the filmmaker. Obviously, at the world premiere, you wouldn’t expect anyone to say a bad thing about Russell, but it is interesting to see how everyone describes the experience.
Leading the way is Margot Robbie, who along with Christian Bale and John David Washington, serves as a lead in “Amsterdam.” This film marks the first time Robbie has worked with Russell and her description about coming on set paints a clear picture of what most people might assume it’s like acting for the filmmaker.
“It’s terrifying, but also exhilarating, and puts you in a place where you can find a part of yourself as an artist you haven’t tapped into before,” she explained.
Mike Myers seemingly dispels the reports of Russell being a bit difficult on set (putting it mildly) by saying that working on “Amsterdam” featured camaraderie that made it “an unbelievable safe space where I felt like I could walk through a wall.” Michael Shannon echoed those sentiments by saying that chatting with Russell was almost as much fun as “doing the work,” and he compared the experience to working with another legendary filmmaker, Warner Herzog.
So, while you can find plenty of reports of alleged rough on-set behavior from Russell, it would appear that the folks working on “Amsterdam” wouldn’t agree. And it does lend some credence to why folks like Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence continue to collaborate with the filmmaker, working on multiple films with Russell.
“Amsterdam” skipped the fall film festival schedule and will instead hit theaters on October 7.