Author Topic: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees  (Read 8782 times)

Dorvid Barnas

  • Guest
Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« on: March 19, 2007, 01:47:35 PM »
I had to post these.  They're absolutely fascinating.
Part One
Part Two

Dan B

  • Achilles Tendon Bursitis
  • Posts: 642
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2007, 02:49:41 PM »
Holy fuckabees.


David O. Russell is still awesome, though.

Jason

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2007, 02:57:45 PM »
That's incredible, especially the second one.

TL

  • Achilles Tendon Bursitis
  • Posts: 802
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2007, 03:10:36 PM »
Yeah - that second one...  I gotta say - say "fuck fuck fuckin' fuck" all you want, but when you call a woman what he called Lily Tomlin, even in anger, no matter what's going on...  well...  it's really telling.  Aftern saying "bitch," like, five times, I think the exact phrase was something like, "I didn't work on this for three years to have some cunt come in here and yell at me!"  And this isn't England, you know?  He said that because she's a woman who was pissing him off, not just because she's "someone" who's pissing him off.  He came really really close to kicking her and throwing things directly at her, too.  Call me crazy, but I found the whole thing pretty disturbing.
Now write me a receipt so I can tip on outta here...

John Junk

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2007, 03:52:47 PM »
 :o

Nice suit.

Sarah

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2007, 04:32:57 PM »
I was too late:  both videos have been "removed by the user."  Judging by the posts thus far, though, I guess it's probably just as well.  I don't need more reasons to be disturbed.

Chris L

  • Space Champion!
  • Posts: 2780
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2007, 04:37:46 PM »
Shit.  I'm at work and didn't get to see them. 

Now there's nothing to watch on the internet. 

TL

  • Achilles Tendon Bursitis
  • Posts: 802
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2007, 04:50:55 PM »
Well, maybe I was overreacting, but it was creepy.
Now write me a receipt so I can tip on outta here...

John Junk

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2007, 05:16:00 PM »
They were pretty awesome.  Glad I caught 'em.  David O. Russell was flipping out and smashing the set and in the middle of the rampage Lily Tomlin goes to the crew "You better take out some insurance on the director."  Zung.

Dan B

  • Achilles Tendon Bursitis
  • Posts: 642
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2007, 05:37:01 PM »
Well, maybe I was overreacting, but it was creepy.
Not really.  I mean, Lily Tomlin was being a major bitch, but the cunt word and throwings things are a little much, David O.

Dorvid Barnas

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2007, 05:46:07 PM »
Well, maybe I was overreacting, but it was creepy.
Oh it was creepy and sexist, for sure, and tempered my opinions of everyone involved, but damn, it was riveting stuff.

I wonder which disgruntled crew member leaked this footage, which continues to be posted and removed from YouTube.  I'll repost it if I can find it.

In the meantime, here's a similarly-themed David Russell story from a Playboy Interview with George Clooney.

"PLAYBOY: Did he yell at you?

CLOONEY: At me often --- and at someone daily. He'd throw off his headset and scream, "Today the sound department flicked me!" For me, it came to a head a couple of times. Once, he went after a camera-car driver who I knew from high school. I had nothing to do with his getting his job, but David began yelling and screaming at him and embarrassing him in front of everybody. I told him, "You can yell and scream and even fire him, but what you can't do is humiliate him in front of people. Not on my set, if I have any say about it." Another time he screamed at the script supervisor and made her cry. I wrote him a letter and said, "Look, I don't know why you do this. You've written a brilliant script, and I think you're a good director. Let's not have a set like this. I don't like it and I don't work well like this." I'm not one of those actors who likes things in disarray. He read the letter and we started all over again. But later, we were three weeks behind schedule, which puts some pressure on you, and he was in a bad mood. These army kids, who were working as extras, were supposed to tackle us. There were three helicopters in the air and 300 extras on the set. It was a tense time, and a little dangerous, too. David wanted one of the extras to grab me and throw me down. This kid was a little nervous about it, and David walked up to him and grabbed him. He pushed him onto the ground. He kicked him and screamed, "Do you want to be in this fucking movie? Then throw him to the fucking ground!" The second assistant director came up and said, "You don't do that, David. You want them to do something, you tell me." David grabbed his walkie-talkie and threw it on the ground. He screamed, "Shut the fuck up! Fuck you," and the AD goes, "Fuck you! I quit." He walked off.

It was a dangerous time. I'd sent him this letter. I was trying to make things work, so I went over and put my arm around him. I said, "David, it's a big day. But you can't shove, push or humiliate people who aren't allowed to defend themselves." He turned on me and said, "Why don't you just worry about your fucked-up act? You're being a dick. You want to hit me? You want to hit me? Come on, pussy, hit me." I'm looking at him like he's out of his mind. Then he started banging me on the head with his head. He goes, "Hit me, you pussy. Hit me." Then he got me by the throat and I went nuts. Waldo, my buddy, one of the boys, grabbed me by the waist to get me to let go of him. I had him by the throat. I was going to kill him. Kill him. Finally, he apologized, but I walked away. By then the Warner Bros. guys were freaking out. David sort of pouted through the rest of the shoot and we finished the movie, but it was truly, without exception, the worst experience of my life.

PLAYBOY: Did you resolve things? Would you ever work with him again?

CLOONEY: Life's too short.


Laurie

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2007, 05:58:10 PM »
Okay, now I have to see these clips.

Dorvid Barnas

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2007, 06:04:30 PM »
Found the second one.

Get it while it's hot!

Laurie

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #13 on: March 19, 2007, 06:10:44 PM »
Oof. I've known more than a couple of guys like that. Fortunately, one of them has grown up for the most part and behaves when he's in town.

CLASSIC narcissistic personality, if you ask me. And three years is not that long to work on a script, you fucking crybaby. Do you know how long it takes most writers to get their babies made? Well, I don't, to be fair, but I'm sure it's longer than three years.

And I just saw the first one. Neither come off in a very favorable light, but I'm tempted to side with Lily Tomlin based on David O Russell's horrible reputation.

Yikes.

PS: Context!

Sarah

  • Guest
Re: Lily Tomlin vs. David Russell - Huckabees
« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2007, 06:32:12 PM »
I, too, have had the misfortune to work with assholes such as this.  Eventually, I realized that the only way to handle such types was to yell right back at them (and never, ever cry), but I didn't really enjoy going in to work knowing I might have to get into a screaming match with my boss.  God, I'm glad I now freelance.

The part of the clip that I found most amusing and depressing was when Russell is accusing Tomlin of acting like a "fucking baby" while he's slamming around the room, knocking things over, and screaming.  I'm surprising he didn't drop to the ground and start drumming his heels.

I'm guessing that the ability to make one's actors flinch away in terror when one gets close is not an attribute best suited to getting the best out of the people with whom one is working.