Russell's legacy vs. Doug Wick

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David O. Russell will adapt and direct Sammy's Hill, a film based on Kristin Gore's chick-lit, inside-the- Washington-beltway book about a single woman coping with romantic and job-pressure issues, and that's good news all around. People forget from time to time how good Russell can be, and that real talent mitigates bad behavior. (My view is that loud profane arguments are not a problem if you're up against Russell -- the problem is when the yellers are second- and third-raters.)

But producer Doug Wick struck exactly the wrong chord when he told THR's Tatiana Siegel that Sammy's Hill "will do for Washington, D.C., what Talladega Nights did for race car driving."

What WIck should have said (and what I hope to God he really meant) is that Sammy's Hill will do for Washington, D.C. relationships and power games what Russell's Flirting With Disaster did to illuminate late '90s relationships and anxieties. You really can't get farther away from the smart, subversive spirit of David O. Russell than to mention an oafish, blue-collar comedy like Talledega Nights...I mean, c'mon.

"We are going for a bold, subversive comedy," Wick elaborated, "and David O. Russell is one of the most original voices working in comedy." Fine and good.

Russell is "working closely" with Kristin Gore (i.e., Al Gore's daughter), Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein on the screenplay, writes Siegel. Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing. Sony suits Matt Tolmach and Rachel O'Connor are overseeing for the studio, and Rachel Shane is "shepherding" the project (i.e., she personally relates to the book, knows Gore, provided the relationship hook-up, urged the optioning/buying of rights) for Wick and Fisher's Red Wagon.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 30, 2007 at 11:00 AM

comment #1

Mr. Buckles says ...

What about the imdb entry that says he's directing a script he wrote called The H-Man Cometh staring Vince Vaughn and the immensely likable Elizabeth Banks?

Posted by Mr. Buckles at March 30, 2007 11:33 AM

comment #2

Mark says ...

This has Rachel McAdams written all over it.

Posted by Mark at March 30, 2007 12:11 PM

comment #3

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Mark: Smart call.

Posted by gruver1 at March 30, 2007 12:18 PM

comment #4

JD says ...

Speaking of significant lags between movies, it is kind of worrisome that Russell is just getting started on his followup to I Heart Huckabee's two and a half years after it was released. I guess that Vince Vaughn project fell apart.

Posted by JD at March 30, 2007 12:21 PM

comment #5

Rothchild says ...

David O. Russel produced Anchorman and is close friends with Adam McKay. Nice research there.

Posted by Rothchild at March 30, 2007 12:27 PM

comment #6

jeffmcm says ...

Talladega Nights is thoroughly smart and subversive. Just because it was about an aspect of American life that Wells finds off-putting is no reason to demean it.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 30, 2007 1:12 PM

comment #7

NYCBusybody says ...

Wouldn't the horse from My Friend Flicka be far more correct to play Kristen Gore than Rachel McAdams?

Posted by NYCBusybody at March 30, 2007 1:15 PM

comment #8

gruver1 says ...

Wells to NYC Busybody: Listen, man...maybe I sound like a hypocrite, but I hate deliberate cruelty and I won't allow cheap, below-the-belt cracks like that to be posted on this site. People have feelings. Besides, Kristen Gore is not Chelsea Clinton. Fuck, I just did it myself. Say whatever you want except cruel hurtful things. In fact, I'm deleting it.

Posted by gruver1 at March 30, 2007 1:45 PM

comment #9

christian says ...

leave it be, jeff as a prime example of why conservative republicans enjoy the prestige they have today in this country. nyc embodies it all.

Posted by christian at March 30, 2007 1:56 PM

comment #10

jeffmcm says ...

NYC isn't even a conservative. He just hates liberals.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 30, 2007 2:02 PM

comment #11

malibugigolo says ...

Wells doesn't like mean things said, hmmm from someone that just said:

"And if you add a grotesquely fat character of either gender (even in an unobtrusive supporting role) you've got an oh-for-three situation."

Words of a true humanist.

Posted by malibugigolo at March 30, 2007 2:45 PM

comment #12

malibugigolo says ...

Also:

The terms subversive and/or smart are as meaningless as when you see compelling in a book review.

As such: what was subversive about Talladega Nights?

Smart? (Hmm a Camus reference. wooooooo!!!!)

No.

I was smarting due to how glib the movie was.

Posted by malibugigolo at March 30, 2007 2:54 PM

comment #13

Josh Massey says ...

"NYC isn't even a conservative. He just hates liberals."

Yeah, seriously - don't lump him in with us (that goes for the fundamentalists too.)

Posted by Josh Massey at March 30, 2007 3:43 PM

comment #14

Craig Kennedy says ...

I kinda like Chelsea Clinton. I'm weird that way though.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at March 30, 2007 3:53 PM

comment #15

jeffmcm says ...

Sorry, Josh, you don't have to take NYC but you are joined at the hip with the fundies.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 30, 2007 3:56 PM

comment #16

RoyBatty says ...

If the worst NYCIdiot came up with against this book is "Uh, she's an ugly bitch" (insert Beavis & Butthead snicker), doesn't that speaks volumns about any real criticism he has? Then again, hasn't 20 years of cheap, Limbaugh-esque shots like this totally define conservative Republicans?

Posted by RoyBatty at March 30, 2007 7:11 PM

comment #17