There was a Manhattan buyer’s screening yesterday for David O. Russell‘s abandoned Nailed, the financially-plagued political comedy, based on a screenplay co-written by novelist Kristin Gore (i.e., the second daughter of Al Gore) and Russell, that was haphazardly shot and never quite completed in ’08. Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tracy Morgan, Catherine Keener, Paul Reubens, Josh Brolin and Kirstie Alley costarred. Production was delayed or shut down four times due to the crew not getting paid. Blame was attributed to financial insuffficiency on the part of producers Ronald Tutor and David Bergstein of Capitol Films.
Jessica Beil, Jake Gyllenhaal in David O. Russell’s Nailed.
Yesterday’s screening (which was attended by reps for Magnolia among others) was presumably arranged by producer Kia Jam, who, according to a 2.5.14 story by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Borys Kit, “cobbled together a cut that was test-screened in 2011 and submitted to the MPAA in November 2013.” Jam didn’t return Kit’s call asking for comment, and he didn’t return mine this morning either. I wrote Russell about the screening…zip. Magnolia wouldn’t say anything either.
Wikiplot: The sexual appetite of a waitress (Biel) goes into overdrive after getting accidentally shot in the head with a nail. Uninsured and hurting, the waitress goes on a crusade to Washington to fight for the rights of the bizarrely injured. She meets an immoral congressman (Gyllenhaal) who takes advantage of the waitress’s sex drive and capitalizes on her crusade as she heads into her own career in politics.”
If you’re at all attuned to Russell and his films, you can’t say you’re not at least somewhat interested in this thing. I am. Russell walked away from the project four years ago, but with Nailed all but completed save for one scene — i.e., a depiction of the initial injury — it has to be at least 90% or 95% “there” and at least semi-intriguing on various levels. Without that injury scene and without Russell fine-tuning, it’s bound to be a frustrating sit. But even without Russell’s creative participation, I’d still like to see it.
