Search results for: David O. Russell

Feminists everywhere can rejoice that Hanna's Saoirse Ronan proves that girl power is more about kicking ass than shaking it (hear that Zak). Fernando Santos gives Tootsie a run for her/his money in To Die Like a Man. Venice/TIFF/NYFF Meek's Cutoff turns Manifest Destiny on its collective head in Kelly Reichardt's third film starring Michelle Williams.

Orson Welles’s brief flirtation with hired-gun hackery from 1946. Made a mere 5 years after Citizen Kane, The Stranger is a film notable mainly for its cynicism. To producer Sam Spiegal, who appears in the credits as S.P. Eagle, it was an attempt to cash in on the horrific revelations from the recently liberated Nazi death camps. To director/star Welles, it was a last chance at Hollywood redemption.

Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of any of Julie Taymor’s movies, but this is really the rare case where I blame it more on my own personal taste than Taymor’s value as a filmmaker. For some reason I always feel the need to tune out during Taymor’s work. I’ve never been a Shakespeare guy, and I was always more Stones than Beatles.

We often hear about the Sundance Labs for screenwriters and directors, but don't worry folks, producers aren't being neglected, in fact the Sundance Institute have a pretty good initiative for the next generation of producers. The Sundance Institute announced a series of initiatives designed to support independent producers in feature film and documentary.

I wrote the script for Paul Giamatti. Luckily, I won a screenplay competition at the Nantucket Film Festival in 2006 and by a strange coincidence meet Paul in person, who was there to present an award to Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. I told him about the dream. He got intrigued. Few days later he read the script and accepted the role. This never happens. It was beginner’s luck.