Jonah Hill, in his early days, used his connection to acclaimed actor Dustin Hoffman via his son Jake (a friend of Hill) to land himself a minor role in David O. Russell‘s 2004 film “I Heart Huckabees,” and has now revealed his experience making it. You might remember that a behind-the-scenes video from the movie made its way online, where it had Russell crashing out and losing it on actress Lily Tomlin while trashing the set in the process during his tirade.
During the recording of a live episode (yet to be released) of the “Smartless” podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter), Hill shared his experiences on the set of the infamous shoot and shared some insight into the filmmaker, whom he called “f***king nuts at the time” bringing up O. Russell’s fight with veteran production designer K.K. Barrett (who recently worked with Hill on his directorial effort ‘Outcome‘).
“He was buck wild, and I’m like homies with him. He’s awesome. Super nice guy. But in that moment in life, and I’ve had my own, trust me, he was buck wild, dude. He was screaming at Lily Tomlin. It’s online and shit. And he’ll talk about it. He’s cool. He’s one of the best directors ever. I mean, ‘Flirting With Disaster’ and ‘Three Kings,’ he’s so goated. It’s insane.”
“Everyone’s screaming at each other,” Hill continued, speaking about the tone on set. “The first time I walked on set, him and K.K. Barrett, the production designer, were joking around wrestling, and then it turned into a real fight. It was like joking that turned into a fight, and these guys were fighting, and they were setting up my first scene to act. I was like, Hollywood is so tight.”
Given his re-telling of those events, it sounds like Hill took away the wrong lessons from that experience.
Of course, David O. Russell is well-known for his disgusting behavior over multiple decades. Some of those controversies include George Clooney getting into a literal fight with the director during their time together making the military heist action-comedy “Three Kings” after his unprofessional treatment of an extra and crew on set. Claims of mistreatment by actress Amy Adams while making “American Hustle,” and he once assaulted fellow director Christopher Nolan by putting him in a headlock. His gross antics didn’t end on film sets or with peers; in 2011, there was a sexual misconduct allegation made by his teenage transgender niece after Russell allegedly groped her.
You can watch/listen to Hill’s take on the shoot via THR’s Chris Gardner’s social media post below.
“David O. Russell was fucking nuts at the time,” Jonah Hill says during Smartless LIVE referring to filming his acting debut on the notorious production of I Heart Huckabees. Leaked audio revealed Russell screaming at Lily Tomlin but Hill says there was actually another fight… pic.twitter.com/oNCyEyjVnk
— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) April 27, 2026
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