Christian Bale And David O. Russell's Relationship Has Withstood The Director's Numerous Scandals
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Despite the fact that 2022's Amsterdam is absolutely stacked with A-listers, the David O. Russell movie has been trashed as an unmitigated disaster. Not to mention a box office flop. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is set to lose between $80 - $100 million. Yeah, this one is going to hurt stakeholders.
Regardless, David O. Russell is allowed a few flops. After all, the writer/director is responsible for some of the best dramas of the past three decades. But through his many film successes and failures, David's personal life has haunted him. For years, he's been wrapped up in numerous scandals. Most of which involve onset conflicts with actors. Just look at what happened between him and George Clooney.
But many actors have continuously worked with him despite his reported onset behavior. Ths includes Christian Bale, who, according to Indie Wire, plans to keep collaborating with David after their Amsterdam flop.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Christian pulled back the curtains on his relationship with the embattled director.
David O. Russell And Amy Adams Conflict, According to Christian Bale
According to an interview with GQ, Christian Bale was fully aware of the conflict between his co-star, Amy Adams, and David O. Russell on the set of their 2013 film, American Hustle. He even claimed to be the mediator. But this may not have proven successful.
While Amy worked with David on The Fighter prior to American Hustle, she claimed her experience with him was vastly different the second time around.
"Even I was surprised on American Hustle, because on Silver Linings Playbook [David] had developed this wild, crazy way of working with Bradley [Cooper] and Jennifer [Lawrence]…and it was mania," Amy Adams said to British GQ in 2016 before admitting that the director made her "cry" more than once.
"[David] was hard on me, that’s for sure. It was a lot," she continued. "I was really just devastated on set."
Amy then contrasted herself with her American Hustle co-star, Jennifer Lawrence, who reportedly wouldn't put up with David's behavior.
"[Jennifer's] Teflon. And I am not Teflon," Amy admitted. "But I also don’t like to see other people treated badly, you know what I mean? It’s not OK with me. Life to me is more important than movies."
David, of course, has been accused of being verbally aggressive on the set of many of his movies, according to People. The infamous leaked video of him and Lily Tomlin engaged in a brutal scrap seems to prove that.
But Christian Bale, a man famous for implementing aspects of method acting in his work, really tried to smooth things out between David and Amy on American Hustle.
"I did what I felt was appropriate, in very Irv style," Christian Bale said to GQ, referring to his American Hustle character. "If I can have some sense of understanding of where it’s coming from, then I do tend to attempt to be a mediator. That’s just in my nature, to try to say, 'Hey, come on, let’s go and sit down and figure that out. There’s got to be a way of making this all work.'"
Christian then admitted that blow-ups of this nature are likely to happen on film sets. Of course, Christian himself has admitted to losing his temper on the set of Terminator Salvation.
"When you’re working with people of the crazy creative talent of Amy or of David, there are gonna be upsets," Christian claimed. "But they are f***ing phenomenal."
Why Christian Bale Keeps Working With David O. Russell
Not only did Christian Bale star in David O. Russell's Amsterdam, after starring in The Fighter and American Hustle, but he also chose to produce it.
"It wasn’t like any bold decision. I’ve had people in the past always ask me, 'Do you want to produce? You want to have a production company and stuff?'" Chrisitan explained in an interview with Vulture. "It’s just because David and I were the first people involved with it, and I wanted to be more deeply involved."
Christian admitted that he also wanted to run interference with the studio should they have wanted to impede David's creative vision. With a big star in a producing role, David could get away with creative decisions money people may not have accepted.
"Thank God, that wasn’t really necessary on [Amsterdam]," Christian claimed. "Everyone absolutely loved what David was doing, and we had total collaboration and support throughout. But I was there from the inception, and David ran everything by me, as a friend. And so they went, 'Alright, yeah. Producer.'"
As for why Christian is so Gung ho about continuously collaborating with the controversial director, the Dark Knight star claimed he loves the way he works.
"Like every great director, he’s got a very unique way of working. He’s got a very unique and singular vision. That’s what makes fantastic directors so fascinating, and he’s certainly one of the greats," Christian said to Vulture.
"We started with The Fighter and went to American Hustle, and each time we just dove a little bit deeper to the point where I’m so grateful he brought me in right at the beginning [of Amsterdam]."
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