# "You Try to Choke George Clooney, See How It Goes": the David O Russell Story

An episode of [Ridiculous Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1608230191), 29 Apr 2025, 52 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/0b4bcc39-7ba2-453f-aaac-ae510011dd80/728c811b-f293-4847-b663-b2cd01723a84/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=3a4c50f5-ff69-4807-aa26-ae510011dd8e

On a Hollywood film set, the director is like a god. They have the power to make or to break. They have the carte blanche to do whatever they must to make their art. And they often abuse this privilege and all the fine folks around them. And then, there's David O Russell who takes bad behavior to whole 'nother level. Listeners, be warned: there's plenty of salty language in this one, it's bleeped, but it's still there. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.
[0:03] Speaker 2: Hello Elizabeth his Saron, I love you walk in there
[0:07] Speaker 2: and I'm like, hey, look, I gotta tell her his story,
[0:09] Speaker 2: and I hear you.
[0:09] Speaker 3: Laugh, and I'm always like about twenty thirty minutes late.
[0:12] Speaker 2: I was. I was gliding past that because I was
[0:16] Speaker 2: seven minutes late.
[0:17] Speaker 3: So who oh, okay, So, but.
[0:19] Speaker 2: I got a question for you while we're here, Yes, sir,
[0:22] Speaker 2: do you know what's ridiculous?
[0:23] Speaker 3: Oh? Do I what Heines Brazil?
[0:28] Speaker 2: What Heins Brazil?
[0:29] Speaker 3: The Brazilian arm of the Hines.
[0:31] Speaker 4: Ah, okay, they're wild now.
[0:33] Speaker 2: I thought that was one word, Heines of Brazil.
[0:35] Speaker 4: Hins Brazil.
[0:36] Speaker 3: It's like a German word that means something very specific,
[0:40] Speaker 3: you know when you get ketchup and it falls into
[0:42] Speaker 3: your decloete. I don't know. Okay, So the Brazilian arm
[0:47] Speaker 3: of Heines, Right, I've mentioned them before because they had
[0:50] Speaker 3: the whole thing with like the Hines tattoos and oh right, right,
[0:53] Speaker 3: I think there was ketchup in the rustard. Yeah whatever.
[0:57] Speaker 3: So they have this thing now called Heine grills. And
[1:01] Speaker 3: you're thinking, like, oh, meat cooked over flame, zeron, It's
[1:07] Speaker 3: not meat cooked over.
[1:08] Speaker 4: Flames, grills Z.
[1:09] Speaker 3: It's grills with it. It literally is grills with a Z.
[1:14] Speaker 3: And what it is is like gold teeth, right, a
[1:17] Speaker 3: grill for those uninitiated, like slip on slip on tooth,
[1:22] Speaker 3: but they don't have a full grill. They're doing the
[1:25] Speaker 3: single dirt bag tooth.
[1:27] Speaker 4: Oh, just like a gold cap, right, and so they.
[1:30] Speaker 3: Have there's three of them, Ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. Yeah,
[1:35] Speaker 3: the ketchup has this is what it says, says a
[1:38] Speaker 3: blingy gold tooth with a red engraved HINZ keystone logo.
[1:42] Speaker 4: Oh.
[1:43] Speaker 3: Mustard is also gold accented with a splash of yellow
[1:46] Speaker 3: and twelve diamonds set into the engraving. And the Mayo
[1:50] Speaker 3: grill is the most minimal but the cleanest look a
[1:53] Speaker 3: single silver piece with a cutout of their keystone like logo.
[1:57] Speaker 2: Ye, so down state of Pennsylvania where they are located, right.
[2:02] Speaker 3: But I think there are two important things that need
[2:04] Speaker 3: to be mentioned here. One, I saw the to Kendrick
[2:09] Speaker 3: Lamar and Mustard's Yeah I got a bone to pit.
[2:16] Speaker 3: I uh saw this pop up on Instagram and then
[2:21] Speaker 3: within about an hour I was getting forwarded to me
[2:25] Speaker 3: from our Instagram ridiculous crime account. All the rude dudes
[2:30] Speaker 3: who saw this and were like, send this to Elizabeth.
[2:34] Speaker 3: So I love you all. Thank you. So there's so
[2:36] Speaker 3: many people and there you're all amazing.
[2:39] Speaker 2: Thanks guys.
[2:39] Speaker 3: But the other thing is that these are not for sale,
[2:43] Speaker 3: you know, just they're just for the Brazilian social media.
[2:48] Speaker 2: That's it.
[2:49] Speaker 3: That's it.
[2:50] Speaker 2: They're not even something you can purchase.
[2:52] Speaker 4: Like, I don't know if there's water purchase.
[2:55] Speaker 3: Maybe this is just like, yeah, maybe this is just
[2:58] Speaker 3: a feeler to see if everyone's like, wait, where do
[3:01] Speaker 3: I get this? I want to spend an enordan amount
[3:03] Speaker 3: of money?
[3:03] Speaker 2: This is their idea of a test ballon Like, hey,
[3:05] Speaker 2: what do you guys think?
[3:06] Speaker 4: Yeah, in this economy you want to want to hop
[3:08] Speaker 4: on that. Yeah?
[3:09] Speaker 3: And I so I'm going to guess that you know,
[3:12] Speaker 3: no one wants them. I think so except for Mustard.
[3:17] Speaker 2: I think he gets them free. Is any doing the
[3:18] Speaker 2: ads for them? Now?
[3:19] Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right he should.
[3:21] Speaker 2: So you know, a couple just says like, hey, thank you.
[3:25] Speaker 3: Man, Saron. That's ridiculous.
[3:26] Speaker 2: Oh brother, is it?
[3:29] Speaker 3: Brother?
[3:30] Speaker 5: No?
[3:30] Speaker 2: I got a question for you. What sit back down?
[3:32] Speaker 3: Oh crap?
[3:33] Speaker 2: Yeah? Do you know what else is ridiculous.
[3:35] Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, everything's ridiculous.
[3:37] Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, what we think of as a crime versus
[3:40] Speaker 2: what gets excused is like say, workplace drama. Yeah right,
[3:44] Speaker 2: Like today, I have an extreme example of this called
[3:48] Speaker 2: from Films and the onset antics of one David O. Russell.
[3:52] Speaker 2: Now he's the director who did iHeart Huckabees, Flirting with Disaster,
[3:56] Speaker 2: Three Kings, The Fighter, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook. Right,
[4:00] Speaker 2: you know him?
[4:01] Speaker 5: Right?
[4:01] Speaker 3: I had of Bradley Cooper in there.
[4:02] Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, Jason Schwartzman's all up in there. Lily Tomlin, doubles, Gay,
[4:08] Speaker 2: Jennifer something, Oh, Jennifer Lawrence, she's all up in there.
[4:11] Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I left out another one Amsterdam. She thinks
[4:14] Speaker 2: she's in that one.
[4:15] Speaker 3: BBC.
[4:15] Speaker 2: Now, if you didn't know this, he has something of
[4:18] Speaker 2: a temper.
[4:19] Speaker 6: Oh really, Oh yeah, Oh I had no idea.
[4:41] Speaker 2: This is ridiculous crime. A podcast about absurd and outrageous
[4:46] Speaker 2: capers and cons. It's always what ninety nine percent murder
[4:51] Speaker 2: free and what one hundred percent ridiculous? Elizabeth Hollywood?
[4:58] Speaker 3: Oh god, bless or, what's a it?
[5:01] Speaker 5: You know?
[5:01] Speaker 2: I love it? In fact, I also well I started
[5:04] Speaker 2: out wanting to be a film director. You know this,
[5:06] Speaker 2: I'd still like to direct a film. So I read
[5:08] Speaker 2: the trades. I follow the onset news, and that means,
[5:11] Speaker 2: of course you hear about all the onset drama, because
[5:13] Speaker 2: that's what we published these days, like oh yeah, so
[5:15] Speaker 2: and so, slap so and so. Oftentimes though on set
[5:18] Speaker 2: dramas with directors okay, yeah, Well there was a moment there,
[5:23] Speaker 2: a brief moment it looked like Hollywood might reconsider all
[5:25] Speaker 2: the bad behavior of various film producers and directors and
[5:28] Speaker 2: so forth right and work to reduce such abuses in
[5:31] Speaker 2: the future. Instead, they invented intimacy coordinators and just kept
[5:33] Speaker 2: it moving. So but rather than talk about all the
[5:36] Speaker 2: mini abuses on set that go with the me too
[5:38] Speaker 2: era and on and off sets in Hollywood that you
[5:41] Speaker 2: know that motivated that, I thought we could look next
[5:44] Speaker 2: door at the bad behavior of film directors who abuse
[5:46] Speaker 2: their actors on set, but not that way, I mean
[5:49] Speaker 2: more like verbally abusing them, physically fighting them, and just
[5:52] Speaker 2: mentally beating them cruelly. We take a look at how
[5:55] Speaker 2: that behavior gets excused in the name of genius. Because
[5:59] Speaker 2: a could be considered a crime often and what some
[6:02] Speaker 2: of these directors do on these sets, and b it's
[6:05] Speaker 2: typically ridiculous. So it really hits right in that sweet
[6:07] Speaker 2: spot for us. Elizabeth, you've ever been on a film.
[6:09] Speaker 3: Set, I've not, No, you know, I used to when
[6:13] Speaker 3: you can talk about reading the trades, and like when
[6:15] Speaker 3: I was like in high school, I got variety totally,
[6:18] Speaker 3: and it was all about like, I want to make
[6:19] Speaker 3: movies do yeah, And I'm minored in film all right.
[6:26] Speaker 3: But then the more I learned about it, about the business,
[6:29] Speaker 3: and the more I learned about me and the people,
[6:32] Speaker 3: that I have a poet's soul and empower. Yeah. I
[6:35] Speaker 3: mean in in college, you pet, I took fiction workshop
[6:41] Speaker 3: and everyone was so mean to each other and just
[6:43] Speaker 3: tearing each other down. And then I took a poetry
[6:47] Speaker 3: workshop and everyone was just in love with language and
[6:51] Speaker 3: very supportive. Even when it wasn't so great, people would
[6:54] Speaker 3: be very supportive and help the author, the poet get
[6:57] Speaker 3: to a place where it was it was good, right.
[6:59] Speaker 2: Very loving, supportive and total shift.
[7:02] Speaker 3: These are my people. And so I think you were
[7:05] Speaker 3: telling me not too long ago that there are novelists
[7:10] Speaker 3: who are also poets, but there are poets who are novelists,
[7:14] Speaker 3: and I think I.
[7:15] Speaker 2: Fall you're the poet who is a novelist.
[7:17] Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why I would describe you the people not
[7:19] Speaker 3: very commercial.
[7:20] Speaker 2: No, well exactly, it's kind of we're having a conversation
[7:23] Speaker 2: about marketability, and essentially the novelists who are poets, you know,
[7:27] Speaker 2: they can they can sell, and then the poets are
[7:29] Speaker 2: a novelists. It's like good luck as you're starting from poetry.
[7:31] Speaker 2: And that's not something I think about a market.
[7:33] Speaker 3: I couldn't hang Hollywood style, that's all market right, and
[7:37] Speaker 3: it's just I'm too tender.
[7:39] Speaker 2: Yes you are a sweet blossom, but delicate orchid. Yeah,
[7:44] Speaker 2: And I don't think like, well the film said that.
[7:45] Speaker 2: I thing that always keep in mind is that the
[7:47] Speaker 2: director is like, god, yeah, they can do pretty much whatever.
[7:50] Speaker 3: They want a ton yeah.
[7:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, and TV sets as well and so forth. And
[7:55] Speaker 2: I've seen like in TV sets you'll hear the voice
[7:58] Speaker 2: of the director because they're like going to control room
[8:00] Speaker 2: looking at it like the string. They'll be down there
[8:03] Speaker 2: for blocking and setting up. But then once you're shooting,
[8:05] Speaker 2: they're off and they're watching on the screens and they're
[8:07] Speaker 2: in front of a control back. So you just hear
[8:09] Speaker 2: their voices, the voice of God they call it, and
[8:11] Speaker 2: you're like talking to the air when you're responding to
[8:13] Speaker 2: the director's interesting. Yeah, but on film sets, obviously they're
[8:17] Speaker 2: right there. Sometimes they're blow the camera staring at you.
[8:20] Speaker 2: We'll get into that in a second, but my point
[8:22] Speaker 2: is is, like, it's wild the power directors have on
[8:24] Speaker 2: a set and they are allowed, also producers, but especially directors. Right,
[8:28] Speaker 2: it's basically this morality, ethics free zone that they run. Right,
[8:31] Speaker 2: So what happens is that the attitude of them being
[8:34] Speaker 2: a genius gets glamorized, lion eyed, legitimized, and you end
[8:39] Speaker 2: up with directors like James Cameron, who is very famous
[8:42] Speaker 2: in town for getting his crew shirt to wear on
[8:45] Speaker 2: his sets and the shirt mocked his reputation. That was
[8:48] Speaker 2: like a whole like you know, in joke for the
[8:50] Speaker 2: set and it was basically about him being a task master.
[8:53] Speaker 2: And the t shirt's read, you can't scare me. I
[8:56] Speaker 2: work for James Cameron. Oh so it's like bluster. I've
[9:00] Speaker 2: been so abused from like tough leather.
[9:02] Speaker 5: Now.
[9:03] Speaker 2: So now there's another au Tour director, Quentin Tarantino. He's
[9:07] Speaker 2: a no not just as a foot fetishi on his
[9:09] Speaker 2: film sets. The man likes feet, Yes he does, and
[9:12] Speaker 2: he likes you to know it, and he wants you
[9:13] Speaker 2: to take part with him. I'm like, bro, what is
[9:15] Speaker 2: this that feet on the dashboard? Yeah? Yeah, So he's
[9:20] Speaker 2: also a bit of a tyrant apparently. And that's not
[9:22] Speaker 2: me saying that, that's Jamie Fox's words. He said that
[9:25] Speaker 2: to Howard Stern. I guess when he was on the
[9:27] Speaker 2: set of Jango Unchained, he was trying to do like
[9:28] Speaker 2: a whole like blaxploitation vibe when he first got there.
[9:31] Speaker 2: I mean, that's what he was told with the vibe
[9:34] Speaker 2: like Tarantino when they were first doing the casting. And
[9:36] Speaker 2: then Quentin sees him acting like Jim Brown, you know,
[9:38] Speaker 2: and like Fred the Hammer Williamson, and he just goes
[9:41] Speaker 2: in on Jamie Fox. As Fox told Howard Stern and
[9:43] Speaker 2: I quote, I was just getting to learn Quentin Tarantino,
[9:46] Speaker 2: so he was again a tyrant. Now for evidence of this,
[9:49] Speaker 2: he recalled how Tarantino yelled at him about coming onto
[9:52] Speaker 2: the film like he'd been shaken out of a blaxploitation flick. Yeah,
[9:55] Speaker 2: and Tarantino apparently yelled at him in front of people
[9:58] Speaker 2: do not my film up, You're not Jim Brown.
[10:02] Speaker 3: Well, Jamie FOXX could be excused seeing the rest of
[10:05] Speaker 3: the like.
[10:06] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, but until that point, right, it's basically a
[10:08] Speaker 2: rip off a black sploica. I thought this is what
[10:11] Speaker 2: you wanted. Yeah, he's like, no, this is a Western
[10:12] Speaker 2: or I guess a Southern. Anyway, when Tarantino, UH meant
[10:16] Speaker 2: by what that was the character Django needed to grow.
[10:19] Speaker 2: He needed to have a character arc car Quentin's language
[10:22] Speaker 2: quote he's a slave and then and then he becomes the.
[10:26] Speaker 4: Hero to lose that.
[10:29] Speaker 2: That was a direct quote.
[10:30] Speaker 3: So they're nicer way to say, right, this.
[10:32] Speaker 2: Is what I'm talking about. You just wait, Elizabeth. Jamie
[10:35] Speaker 2: fox did off rep rationalization for Tarantino coming at him
[10:39] Speaker 2: like that. He said, and I quote, that's what you want.
[10:42] Speaker 2: You want a director who even if you're going to
[10:44] Speaker 2: go off the cliff, you know that you're going off
[10:45] Speaker 2: that cliff. I can see they're like, I want to
[10:49] Speaker 2: be beaten up his time. Yeah, I'm sure you you know.
[10:53] Speaker 2: I know what he means. You want passion from an artist, right,
[10:56] Speaker 2: and he we expect it from our great artists. But like,
[10:58] Speaker 2: what about say a director like Michael Bay. Yeah, like
[11:01] Speaker 2: of Transformers fan right now. Megan Fox once compared his
[11:05] Speaker 2: directing style to Adolf Hitler. Oh god, yeah, which seemed
[11:08] Speaker 2: a bit hyperbolic at the time, But I mean, how
[11:10] Speaker 2: much abuse should a person have to take on the
[11:12] Speaker 2: film set from the director of Transformers three? I mean,
[11:16] Speaker 2: so to answer that, we turned two. Friend of the show,
[11:18] Speaker 2: Ben Affleck, he once quite famously worked with Michael Bay
[11:22] Speaker 2: on Armageddon nineteen ninety eight. They worked together, right to
[11:26] Speaker 2: make that action blockbuster, and let me tell you, Ben
[11:28] Speaker 2: Affleck hated it. So, I mean even Bruce Willis said
[11:32] Speaker 2: that Michael Bay, well, he called Michael Bay quote a
[11:34] Speaker 2: screaming director. And then like after AMAgeddon was all done
[11:38] Speaker 2: and wrapped and he was like supposed to be doing publicity,
[11:40] Speaker 2: he was asked about it and he's like, few people
[11:42] Speaker 2: will work with him now, and I know I will
[11:45] Speaker 2: never work with him again.
[11:46] Speaker 3: Can't yell at Bruce no, right.
[11:48] Speaker 2: Now, Ben Affleck, he got singled out very particular abuse, like,
[11:53] Speaker 2: for instance, Michael Bay couldn't stand his teeth. He hated
[11:56] Speaker 2: Ben Affleck' oversized choppers just fixated on it, right, So
[12:00] Speaker 2: he made him go get dental work. Now, there are
[12:03] Speaker 2: reports that Ben Affleck got forty hours worth of dentistry
[12:06] Speaker 2: in a one week stretch. He was there, Like, yeah,
[12:09] Speaker 2: because a full time job just eight hours every day.
[12:13] Speaker 2: Let's let's get into it.
[12:14] Speaker 3: Dog what interrnation?
[12:16] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[12:16] Speaker 3: Could they do because he he didn't like the the
[12:20] Speaker 3: Veneers right? So did they have to read I.
[12:24] Speaker 2: Don't know, chisel them off? I have no idea.
[12:27] Speaker 3: I have a problem with the fact that Ben Affleck
[12:29] Speaker 3: doesn't seem to be able to close his mouth. You
[12:32] Speaker 3: do have a problem with, yes, And I love him
[12:36] Speaker 3: to death, Ben, I.
[12:37] Speaker 2: Love you, friend of the show. I love Ben. But
[12:40] Speaker 2: he barely wasn't let out of the dental chair until
[12:42] Speaker 2: Michael Bay was like happy with his dad is which
[12:45] Speaker 2: seems cruel and unusual. Yeah, yeah, I think both the
[12:47] Speaker 2: Geneva Convention and the Constitution.
[12:50] Speaker 3: If your boss, if Admiral iHeart came up to me
[12:52] Speaker 3: and it's like, Elizabeth, your face is just a.
[12:56] Speaker 2: Mess, strapping your cosmetology.
[12:58] Speaker 3: You until work, and it's out of pocket for you
[13:03] Speaker 3: because you don't didn't build that into the budget.
[13:06] Speaker 2: Yeah, probably not.
[13:07] Speaker 3: And you're going to be in pain, but it is
[13:09] Speaker 3: to keep this job.
[13:10] Speaker 2: But this is because I want to make my blockbuster.
[13:12] Speaker 2: It's really just me. I'm bothered by them. No one
[13:14] Speaker 2: else in the audience will ever notice this, but I
[13:17] Speaker 2: can't have it.
[13:18] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, who are you?
[13:20] Speaker 2: My favorite fun factor in the film comes from the
[13:23] Speaker 2: DVD commentary, which, by the way, Ben Affleck does and
[13:26] Speaker 2: it's brilliant, Like, just watch it. It's hilariously and I'm
[13:28] Speaker 2: not even kidding. At one point, he tells the story
[13:30] Speaker 2: how we asked Michael Bay about the central plot of
[13:32] Speaker 2: the film, and one might call a major plot hole.
[13:35] Speaker 2: Affleck asked Michael Bay, wouldn't it be easier to train
[13:38] Speaker 2: astronauts to drill rather than to train roughnecks to be astronauts?
[13:42] Speaker 2: And Michael Bay's response was shut them up.
[13:45] Speaker 7: So.
[13:46] Speaker 2: Another film director who was also known to be a
[13:50] Speaker 2: magician of cruelty, constantly pulling new rabbits of abuse out
[13:53] Speaker 2: of his hat, is David Fincher. Oh really, Oh yeah?
[13:56] Speaker 2: Did you like a two thousand and seven films Zodiac
[13:58] Speaker 2: about the Zodiac Killer movie? Yeah? And the reporter from
[14:01] Speaker 2: the San Francisco Chronicle who tried to find him. Now,
[14:03] Speaker 2: I guess it was no easy feat getting those performances
[14:06] Speaker 2: out of Robert Downey Junior and Jake Jillenhall because Fincher
[14:09] Speaker 2: beat them like a rented mule, just psychologically. Really, he
[14:12] Speaker 2: would sometimes demand regularly up to seventy takes just to
[14:16] Speaker 2: get a take he likes.
[14:17] Speaker 3: Seventy seventy.
[14:18] Speaker 2: Yeah. Sometimes he made Jake Jillenhall do take after take
[14:21] Speaker 2: after take until he didn't think he could humanly emote
[14:24] Speaker 2: another take, and then to motivate him, Fincher would show
[14:27] Speaker 2: him his last take, and since they were shooting on digital,
[14:29] Speaker 2: he would just erase the take right there in front
[14:32] Speaker 2: of him. Oh yes, And then he did it, not
[14:34] Speaker 2: just that one, but like multiple takes, like we're getting
[14:36] Speaker 2: rid of this one, this one, this one, this one
[14:37] Speaker 2: is erasing his work in front of him.
[14:39] Speaker 3: Imagine you come home, I can't wait. Imagine that a
[14:42] Speaker 3: bag of groceries. If you walk in the door and
[14:45] Speaker 3: you take him to the kitchen and then someone says, cut,
[14:48] Speaker 3: do it again. If you had to do that seventy.
[14:51] Speaker 2: Times, what could be different between fifty eight and sixty eight.
[14:55] Speaker 2: So things got so bad, Jake Jillenhall broke down in tears,
[14:57] Speaker 2: and later on Fincher admitted that he erased the takes
[15:00] Speaker 2: in front of Jake as part of an art experiment,
[15:04] Speaker 2: just to see how many takes he had to erase
[15:05] Speaker 2: before Jake would cry. What that's Swear to God, he's
[15:09] Speaker 2: that's his.
[15:10] Speaker 3: Did he need him in rationalization for that scene.
[15:14] Speaker 2: No, he just wanted to like make Jake Jills all cry.
[15:17] Speaker 2: And he also had Robert Downey Junior, who was no
[15:19] Speaker 2: slouch as an actor. He didn't suffer through as many
[15:21] Speaker 2: multiple takes apparently, but he had to rebel against the
[15:24] Speaker 2: director on set because he was thought of him as
[15:27] Speaker 2: a tyrant. So the guy was demanding that the cast
[15:29] Speaker 2: and the crew not take breaks. He wanted them to
[15:31] Speaker 2: stay in focus, you know, and whatever. So out of
[15:34] Speaker 2: spite in dramatic excess, Robert Downey Junior started to piss
[15:37] Speaker 2: in Mason jars and just leave his jars around. They
[15:40] Speaker 2: could urine all around.
[15:42] Speaker 3: He couldn't even go to the bath.
[15:43] Speaker 2: No, he wouldn't have let him go to his trailer.
[15:45] Speaker 2: So like he's basically like the love child of Johnny
[15:47] Speaker 2: Applested and Howard Hughes, just dropping everywhere, Mason jars of
[15:51] Speaker 2: urine everywhere, which is fun. Now, I don't want you
[15:53] Speaker 2: to think that this is just male directors who are jerks,
[15:55] Speaker 2: because women could be times to Elizabeth exhibit a barber
[15:59] Speaker 2: strides in back in nineteen ninety six, she was making
[16:03] Speaker 2: a movie called The Mirror Has Two Faces, Right, Yeah,
[16:05] Speaker 2: And she'd already made Entil Prince of Tides, and she's
[16:08] Speaker 2: riding this wave of critical hand box office success. Right,
[16:11] Speaker 2: so then she makes A Mirror Has Two Faces And
[16:13] Speaker 2: it was apparently a bit of a nightmare set, Like
[16:15] Speaker 2: what kind of nightmare set? Great question is a good question.
[16:19] Speaker 2: For one, there was what insiders called the Wall of Crosses.
[16:22] Speaker 2: Now in one of the production offices, they'd hung up
[16:24] Speaker 2: crosses for everyone who'd been fired from the set. There
[16:26] Speaker 2: were at least twenty crucifixes hung on the wall, and
[16:30] Speaker 2: there was like one for like what. There was one
[16:32] Speaker 2: cross for Dudley Moore, he was an actor who was
[16:34] Speaker 2: fired from the movie for blowing his lines. There was
[16:37] Speaker 2: another crucifix for Dante Spinoti. If you don't know, he's
[16:39] Speaker 2: the cinematographer from like a lot of Michael Mann movies,
[16:42] Speaker 2: like Last Mohicans, and he really guy. Yeah, and so
[16:46] Speaker 2: he wasn't fired, though he resigned after as one insider
[16:49] Speaker 2: told The New York Times quote, taking a tremendous amount
[16:52] Speaker 2: of abuse.
[16:53] Speaker 3: For the Mirror has two faces.
[16:55] Speaker 2: For the cinematography of a mirror, like we're not talking
[16:57] Speaker 2: like there's explosions and extras in danger and no, it's
[17:00] Speaker 2: just like I'd like the plush carpet to look more plush.
[17:04] Speaker 2: So another production insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, like
[17:07] Speaker 2: he's a DC power player like off the record, told
[17:10] Speaker 2: The New York Times quote, Striys had loves living in chaos.
[17:13] Speaker 2: Everything has to be tortured. She's frustrated about everything. It's
[17:16] Speaker 2: all me, me, me. She shows up late constantly, which
[17:21] Speaker 2: I think is unprofessional. She's tired. I know she's tired.
[17:24] Speaker 2: Now they sent in to combat such narrative someone else
[17:27] Speaker 2: to speak to The New York Times for the same story,
[17:30] Speaker 2: because you know, and they're basically a spokesperson for the film.
[17:33] Speaker 2: So they speak with The Times. And they did not
[17:35] Speaker 2: request anonymity obviously because they're a spokesperson. Which is great though,
[17:38] Speaker 2: because this name is incredible, especially for someone in his
[17:41] Speaker 2: line of work. The Mirror has two faces. Spokesperson's name
[17:44] Speaker 2: was Ken Sunshine, Ken Sunshine, Ken Sunshine and He told
[17:48] Speaker 2: The New York Times rather confidently that missus streisand feels
[17:51] Speaker 2: great about this movie. She's killing herself, but she's having
[17:55] Speaker 2: a great time doing it, which is like Ken Sunshine
[17:57] Speaker 2: has an amazing name, but not good at his job, but.
[18:00] Speaker 3: He's so full of sunshine. He's a sunshine boy in
[18:03] Speaker 3: the morning.
[18:04] Speaker 2: Thrown sunshine up here. Now, you never want to say
[18:06] Speaker 2: your client is killing themselves and having a great time
[18:08] Speaker 2: doing it.
[18:09] Speaker 3: Yeah, because what do we need to get her help?
[18:11] Speaker 2: The New York Times one hundred percent is gonna run
[18:13] Speaker 2: with that sound by now if you want to take
[18:15] Speaker 2: the approach of a smooth industry veteran like Piers Brosnan,
[18:18] Speaker 2: who was in the film, and he also he talked
[18:20] Speaker 2: to The New York Times and he blamed sexism for
[18:22] Speaker 2: any reports of bad behavior on the film set. He said,
[18:25] Speaker 2: I've watched mal directors spit out the dummy and throw
[18:27] Speaker 2: tantrums on set and nobody says a peep. So just
[18:31] Speaker 2: an important point. Yeah, he also had more to say.
[18:33] Speaker 2: Brosden added, and I quote, I had a great time
[18:35] Speaker 2: with the woman. She gets the job done. She's precise,
[18:38] Speaker 2: kind and aware. There's only one barber streisand but Elizabeth
[18:42] Speaker 2: Piers Brosnan still ain't done. He had even more to say.
[18:45] Speaker 2: He also added that rumors of onset antics are often
[18:48] Speaker 2: sour grapes. Oh yeah, or is he put it quote?
[18:51] Speaker 2: Usually the crap you hear comes from frightened, insecure people.
[18:54] Speaker 2: As we all know, scared dogs bite. At the end
[18:57] Speaker 2: of the day, if this picture makes big bucks, no
[18:59] Speaker 2: one's going to give a flying whatever about how it
[19:01] Speaker 2: got made big bucks. The two sides to any story,
[19:06] Speaker 2: they like to say. But then again, there sometimes wants
[19:09] Speaker 2: there you go, he's a jobber.
[19:11] Speaker 3: I mean, if you say, who has more pull at
[19:13] Speaker 3: that time?
[19:14] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Barbara strives Barbara. Oh yeah, yeah, it was
[19:18] Speaker 2: definitely run in second.
[19:19] Speaker 3: When he comes to the bread.
[19:21] Speaker 2: But so h there you go. That's, as I say,
[19:26] Speaker 2: you know, the two sides of the story. He wanted
[19:27] Speaker 2: to cover both sides. He wanted people to know that
[19:29] Speaker 2: it's like, hey, it's not everything you hear is true.
[19:32] Speaker 2: But then again, there are sometimes when, even by Hollywood's
[19:34] Speaker 2: very lax standards, you got a film director who crosses
[19:37] Speaker 2: the lines so egregiously so often you have to wonder,
[19:41] Speaker 2: how is none of this a crime? So let's take
[19:44] Speaker 2: a little break, and then after these messages we'll get
[19:46] Speaker 2: into the art and crimes of David o' russell, a
[19:49] Speaker 2: tyrant among filmmakers. Yeah, Elizabeth Saron, we're back.
[20:12] Speaker 3: Hey.
[20:13] Speaker 2: You ready to talk about a film director who makes
[20:14] Speaker 2: other film directors say? Well, at least I'm not him?
[20:17] Speaker 4: Yes, Oh no, Do you like.
[20:19] Speaker 2: David o' russell, or at least do you like his movies?
[20:21] Speaker 3: I don't really think I have an opinion.
[20:23] Speaker 2: Okay, what do you know about David Russell personally?
[20:27] Speaker 3: I know that his middle name is oh.
[20:29] Speaker 2: Oh oh o'reiley.
[20:31] Speaker 3: His bologney has a first name.
[20:34] Speaker 2: Yeah. Actually his middle name oh is Sands for Owen Owen. Yeah,
[20:38] Speaker 2: David Owen Russell.
[20:39] Speaker 3: Okay.
[20:40] Speaker 2: Yeah. He was born in New York, raised by his father,
[20:42] Speaker 2: Bernard Salesman, who worked as a way up to vice
[20:44] Speaker 2: president at Simon Schuster. Oh, I'm big in the publishing world.
[20:47] Speaker 2: Apparently his mother also worked there as a secretary. Not
[20:50] Speaker 2: as big in the publishing world. Apparently his father was
[20:53] Speaker 2: Jewish Russian Jewish family mother was from an Italian American descent.
[20:57] Speaker 2: He first started out to be a writer, obviously, because
[20:59] Speaker 2: he's in publishing and rice around publishing, and but then
[21:01] Speaker 2: he also had this hankering to make films, and so
[21:03] Speaker 2: when he was a kid, like when he was thirteen,
[21:04] Speaker 2: he makes his first film, super eight short film, and
[21:07] Speaker 2: he's a natural artist. He finds he's like, he can
[21:10] Speaker 2: speak the grammar of film. Then you know, but he's
[21:13] Speaker 2: also something of a rebel. Like in high school he
[21:15] Speaker 2: was actually literally voted the class rebel.
[21:17] Speaker 3: Well, yeah, if you're really a rebel.
[21:20] Speaker 2: You're not voted the class voted classbel. So then he
[21:23] Speaker 2: goes off the class rebel, goes off to college at Amherst,
[21:26] Speaker 2: studies English science. But you have to give him this Elizabeth.
[21:33] Speaker 2: After college, he went down to Nicaragua and got involved
[21:36] Speaker 2: in the struggle there, which at the time meant he
[21:38] Speaker 2: taught literacy at a San Denista camp. He like, wow,
[21:43] Speaker 2: so yeah, there you go at him.
[21:46] Speaker 3: He came around on the rebel thing.
[21:48] Speaker 2: I think maybe he scared himself because when he came
[21:50] Speaker 2: back to America, he became a bartender. He's like, okay,
[21:53] Speaker 2: I'm gonna go running back to America. Then that's where
[21:55] Speaker 2: he worked with other artistic hopefuls in New York. For instance,
[21:58] Speaker 2: some of his co workers would become members of the
[22:00] Speaker 2: Blue Man group.
[22:01] Speaker 3: You love them, God do I Now.
[22:03] Speaker 2: In the late eighties, he starts making for movies, documentaries
[22:07] Speaker 2: at first, and then later he works with Betty Davis
[22:09] Speaker 2: and making of this little short film which is like
[22:10] Speaker 2: wow to me. Later indie films that were like darlings
[22:13] Speaker 2: of the film festival circuit. He gets known for his
[22:15] Speaker 2: film Spanking the Monkey. When he'd originally planned on making
[22:19] Speaker 2: this movie about a guy who works as a fortune
[22:21] Speaker 2: cookie writer. He goes to the NEA, the National domen
[22:23] Speaker 2: of Arts. He g asked them to like, you know,
[22:25] Speaker 2: give him a grant to make Zindi film. They give
[22:27] Speaker 2: him the grant, and then he makes a movie about
[22:29] Speaker 2: a mother's son in sestuous relationship. They'll switch through a
[22:33] Speaker 2: little bit of a challenging film. It was a comedy, dark,
[22:36] Speaker 2: dark comedy. When the NEA saw it, they're like, give
[22:38] Speaker 2: us back the money. Yeah, he hate him, give him
[22:41] Speaker 2: back the money. And he did. Now despite well, I.
[22:43] Speaker 3: Mean, here's the thing that with grant money, it's very
[22:45] Speaker 3: specific it's for and then how you have to.
[22:48] Speaker 2: Account for, Like I don't see any fortune c being
[22:51] Speaker 2: written in this story exactly. Despite the high ick factor,
[22:55] Speaker 2: this film was included in the Sundance Film Festival and
[22:58] Speaker 2: it won the Audience Award, So try to make sense
[23:01] Speaker 2: of that. Right after that, David Russell goes off to Hollywood.
[23:04] Speaker 2: Hollywoods oh opens up the doors, like, come in, you know,
[23:06] Speaker 2: do some weird stuff here. Nineteen ninety six, he makes
[23:09] Speaker 2: his first Hollywood movie, a little film called Flirting with Disaster.
[23:12] Speaker 2: I've mentioned this movie before. I recommend it. I don't
[23:15] Speaker 2: know if it holds up. I haven't seen it in
[23:16] Speaker 2: a while, but if you need a life, it's usually
[23:18] Speaker 2: pretty good. It's worth it just to see Richard Jenkins
[23:20] Speaker 2: play a federal agent and at one point he slipped
[23:22] Speaker 2: acid and then he disappears. Then he's found much later
[23:25] Speaker 2: running around in the desert in his underwear, tripping on acid,
[23:28] Speaker 2: talking about the oneness of it all, and it's just
[23:29] Speaker 2: Richard Jenkins is brilliant. So for that alone, anyway, after
[23:33] Speaker 2: that movie did reasonably well. In nineteen ninety nine, he
[23:35] Speaker 2: makes his next movie, Three Kings. You remember that one.
[23:38] Speaker 2: That's a good movie star George Clooney, Marky, Mark Wahlberg,
[23:41] Speaker 2: Ice Cube, and Sophia Coppola's ex husband Spike Jones. That's
[23:44] Speaker 2: right now. There are Army GI's in the ninety one
[23:46] Speaker 2: Iraq War. They try to steal a bunch of Saddamusay's
[23:49] Speaker 2: stolen gold. And the film has this great energy, all
[23:51] Speaker 2: this experimental filmmaking. The look is crazy. He's using like
[23:54] Speaker 2: washed out processes. And it's also the first instance when
[23:57] Speaker 2: David Russell fought one of the stars of his film.
[24:00] Speaker 3: Ooh which one.
[24:01] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was David Russell versus George Clooney.
[24:04] Speaker 3: Oh, that's interesting.
[24:05] Speaker 2: The fight went down in nineteen ninety eight. George Clooney
[24:07] Speaker 2: was at the time King of TV, the star of
[24:09] Speaker 2: R He's at this point trying to the securest place
[24:10] Speaker 2: in movies. So he's doing this is his third film.
[24:13] Speaker 2: He's also keep in mind a former high school quarterback
[24:16] Speaker 2: who was known to stand up for the little guy. Yeah,
[24:18] Speaker 2: so he's both a physical specimen and then also somebody
[24:21] Speaker 2: who has got a strong backbone. So man a principle
[24:23] Speaker 2: in a world with questionable ethics, is what I'm saying.
[24:26] Speaker 2: So he's ripe to fight David o' russell.
[24:28] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[24:29] Speaker 2: Now, the author Sharon Waxman, she has a book called
[24:31] Speaker 2: Rebels on the Back Loot, great book, and she records
[24:34] Speaker 2: the events in her book, and in her account, she says,
[24:36] Speaker 2: David Russell got so heated he actually headbutts George Clooney. Yeah.
[24:41] Speaker 2: In her response, yeah, Clooney, then get well, I don't
[24:43] Speaker 2: want to ruin the whole story, but the truth of
[24:45] Speaker 2: the matter, what did actually happen? Well, what's not rumor
[24:48] Speaker 2: what is fact? What happened on that film set that day? Well,
[24:51] Speaker 2: we do have George Clooney's version of events, because he
[24:54] Speaker 2: told the whole story to Playboy back in two thousand.
[24:57] Speaker 2: Playboy asked Clooney why he'd wanted to work with the
[25:00] Speaker 2: mercurial filmmaker, and Clooney said, quote, David Russell wrote as
[25:04] Speaker 2: good as a script as I've ever read. I thought
[25:06] Speaker 2: to get it. He wanted a lot of other actors
[25:08] Speaker 2: before me. They went to mel and to Nick Cage.
[25:11] Speaker 2: I wanted to work on this movie. David is in
[25:13] Speaker 2: many ways a genius, though I learned he's not a
[25:16] Speaker 2: genius when it comes to people skills. Now, the natural
[25:19] Speaker 2: follow up question is right there. Yes, And luckily Playboy
[25:22] Speaker 2: was on it, and they said did you learn that
[25:24] Speaker 2: the hard way? And Clindey then goes into the whole
[25:26] Speaker 2: deal of what went down on the film set, and
[25:28] Speaker 2: he says, and I quote I did. He yelled and
[25:31] Speaker 2: screamed at people all day from day one, at me often,
[25:35] Speaker 2: and at someone daily. He throw off his headset and
[25:38] Speaker 2: scream today the sound department me for me, it came
[25:41] Speaker 2: to a head a couple of times. Now, Elizabeth, if
[25:44] Speaker 2: you were wondering, the natural showman Clooney doesn't waste this setup.
[25:48] Speaker 2: He then follows up with a few examples of what
[25:50] Speaker 2: it means to coming to a head with George Clooney.
[25:52] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[25:53] Speaker 2: Once he went after a camera car driver who I
[25:55] Speaker 2: knew from high school. I had nothing to do with
[25:57] Speaker 2: him getting a job, but David began yelling and scream
[26:00] Speaker 2: he had him and embarrassing him in front of everybody.
[26:02] Speaker 2: I told him, you can yell and scream and even
[26:04] Speaker 2: fire him, but what you can't do is humiliate him
[26:07] Speaker 2: in front of people not on my set. If I
[26:09] Speaker 2: have any say about it, like I said, the guy's
[26:11] Speaker 2: got it back for.
[26:11] Speaker 5: You, right.
[26:12] Speaker 2: Yeah, Back to Clooney. Another time he screamed at the
[26:15] Speaker 2: script supervisor and made her cry. I wrote him a
[26:17] Speaker 2: letter and said, look, I don't know why you do this.
[26:19] Speaker 2: You've written a brilliant script. I think you're a good director.
[26:22] Speaker 2: Let's not have a set like this. I don't like it,
[26:24] Speaker 2: and I don't work well like this. I'm not one
[26:26] Speaker 2: of those actors who likes things in disarray. He read
[26:29] Speaker 2: the letter and we started all over again.
[26:32] Speaker 3: So he sees the fight, and he like goes back
[26:34] Speaker 3: to his writ and then what hand like puts his
[26:39] Speaker 3: little like wax stamp on the back and then goes
[26:41] Speaker 3: and hands it to him solemnly.
[26:43] Speaker 2: George Clooney is known to write a letter, Yeah right.
[26:49] Speaker 3: David, I'm gonna need you to read this. And then
[26:51] Speaker 3: he stand over him and watch, Yeah, well he read
[26:53] Speaker 3: it or did he just slip.
[26:55] Speaker 2: It to him and walk? I have even more question totally.
[26:57] Speaker 2: But this man at this point owned a pig that
[26:59] Speaker 2: was the only person to live with. So like he
[27:01] Speaker 2: was like, all right, we're already making decisions that are
[27:04] Speaker 2: like anachronistic. Let's just put it that way now from
[27:08] Speaker 2: what we've learned from the stories we tell each other here,
[27:11] Speaker 2: what do you think happened next? Now that he'd sent
[27:13] Speaker 2: him David or Russell a letter? Do you think David
[27:15] Speaker 2: chilled out and became a professional working in a high
[27:17] Speaker 2: pressure environment.
[27:18] Speaker 3: I think there's gonna be zero personal growth involvement.
[27:21] Speaker 2: Yeah no, he did not grow, Elizabeth, because we haven't
[27:23] Speaker 2: even gotten to the point when George Clooney is about
[27:26] Speaker 2: to fight David.
[27:27] Speaker 3: Right.
[27:27] Speaker 2: But you know what, rather than me tell you about
[27:29] Speaker 2: the big blowout, Elizabeth, I'd rather you close your eyes.
[27:32] Speaker 3: My eyes a clone.
[27:33] Speaker 2: I'd like you to picture it. Elizabeth. It's a pleasant
[27:38] Speaker 2: Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles. You are presently seated in
[27:41] Speaker 2: your office as you light a few candles to said
[27:42] Speaker 2: a relaxing and welcoming vibe. Your next client is about
[27:45] Speaker 2: to arrive. You check your watch, and that's when you
[27:48] Speaker 2: hear a knock. Somehow, the knock is friendly, warm. If
[27:52] Speaker 2: the amiability of a knock can be felt, that'd be
[27:55] Speaker 2: your read. The door sweeps open, and there stands your client,
[27:58] Speaker 2: one of the most famous men in the world, George Clooney.
[28:02] Speaker 2: You warmly greet him and welcome him to take a
[28:04] Speaker 2: seat on the couch. You take a seat adjacent Tim.
[28:06] Speaker 2: Because you are George Clooney's therapist, you already know what
[28:09] Speaker 2: he plans to talk about. He's been leading up to
[28:11] Speaker 2: it over his last few sessions, so he gets right
[28:14] Speaker 2: to it. He takes a deep breath, size clears his head.
[28:17] Speaker 2: He's ready to get loose. You ask a few preliminary questions,
[28:20] Speaker 2: and then George Clooney says, it's the fight and all
[28:23] Speaker 2: traces back to that. You ask him to go back
[28:25] Speaker 2: and to relive the fight in as much sensory detail
[28:27] Speaker 2: as he remembers. Colooney clears his voice, stretches his legs
[28:30] Speaker 2: out on the couch, tucks an arm behind his head,
[28:33] Speaker 2: and he begins. We were three weeks behind schedule, which
[28:36] Speaker 2: puts some pressure on you, and he was in bad mood.
[28:39] Speaker 2: These army kids who were working his extras were supposed
[28:42] Speaker 2: to tackle us. There were three helicopters in the air
[28:45] Speaker 2: and three hundred extras on the set. George Clooney's eyes
[28:48] Speaker 2: are closed. He's there. He's back in the moment, reliving
[28:51] Speaker 2: it in him being an actor. It's such a dramatic account.
[28:53] Speaker 2: You feel like you can hear the choppers overhead. You
[28:56] Speaker 2: scribble notes as colony goes on. It was a tense
[28:59] Speaker 2: time and a little dangerous too. David wanted one of
[29:02] Speaker 2: the extras to grab me, throw me down. His kid
[29:04] Speaker 2: was a little nervous about it, and David walked up
[29:06] Speaker 2: to him and grabbed him. You imagine the director his
[29:09] Speaker 2: hands grabbing at some terrified extra. You ask, did David
[29:13] Speaker 2: hit the extra? Clooney takes another deep breath, and then
[29:16] Speaker 2: he's back in the desert as he recounts what happened. Next,
[29:19] Speaker 2: he pushed him onto the ground, kicked him and screamed,
[29:22] Speaker 2: do you want to be in this movie? Then throw
[29:24] Speaker 2: him to the ground. The second assistant director came up
[29:28] Speaker 2: and said, you don't do that, David. You want them
[29:30] Speaker 2: to do something, you tell me. David grabbed his walkie
[29:33] Speaker 2: talkie and threw it on the ground. He screamed, shut
[29:35] Speaker 2: the up you when the ad goes you, I quit.
[29:40] Speaker 2: He walked off. It was a dangerous time. This is
[29:43] Speaker 2: more than you expected. But you can tell there's a
[29:45] Speaker 2: layer that George hasn't mentioned yet. What was he thinking?
[29:48] Speaker 2: What was he feeling in that moment? So you asked,
[29:50] Speaker 2: what did you say to David when he assaulted the extra.
[29:53] Speaker 2: You've reached the core of George Clooney's unresolved anger. You
[29:56] Speaker 2: can see him balling up his fist. Then he says,
[29:59] Speaker 2: I was trying to make the work so I went
[30:01] Speaker 2: over and I put my arm around and I said, David,
[30:03] Speaker 2: it's a big day, but you can't shove, push or
[30:05] Speaker 2: humiliate people who aren't allowed to defend themselves. He turned
[30:09] Speaker 2: on me and said, why don't you worry about your act?
[30:13] Speaker 2: You're being a You want to hit me, you want
[30:15] Speaker 2: to hit me, Come on, hit me. Coloney's growing visibly
[30:19] Speaker 2: tense as he relives the fight. You remind him no
[30:21] Speaker 2: one can hurt him. Here in your office, he's safe.
[30:23] Speaker 2: And then you asked, when David called you up, well,
[30:26] Speaker 2: when he insulted you, how did that make you feel?
[30:29] Speaker 2: Coloney shakes his head, and then he's right back in
[30:31] Speaker 2: the desert, narrating their fight, the sand scratching beneath their
[30:33] Speaker 2: feet as the grunting men bump chest. I'm looking at
[30:36] Speaker 2: him like he's out of his mind. Then he started
[30:39] Speaker 2: banging me on the head with his head. He goes,
[30:42] Speaker 2: hit me, you hit me. Then he got me by
[30:45] Speaker 2: the throat and I went nuts. Waldo, my my buddy.
[30:48] Speaker 2: One of the boys grabbed me by the waist to
[30:50] Speaker 2: get me to let go of him. I had him
[30:52] Speaker 2: by the throat. I was gonna kill him, just kill him.
[30:56] Speaker 2: You definitely did not expect the story to go this way.
[30:58] Speaker 2: You thought George Clooney had been a humili on a
[31:00] Speaker 2: films that may be beaten up by his director. Turns
[31:02] Speaker 2: out he scared himself because he nearly killed a man.
[31:05] Speaker 2: You asked, George Clooney, how did it make you feel
[31:08] Speaker 2: when you nearly killed your director? Did you apologize? Clooney
[31:11] Speaker 2: snickers a little. You recognize it from his movies. Then
[31:13] Speaker 2: he says, finally he apologized, but I walked away. By then,
[31:18] Speaker 2: the Warner Brothers guys were freaking out. David sort of
[31:21] Speaker 2: pouted through the rest of the shoot and we finished
[31:23] Speaker 2: the movie. But it was truly, without exception, the worst
[31:26] Speaker 2: experience of my life. George Clooney falls silent, but somehow
[31:30] Speaker 2: a little more at peace hearing it all out loud,
[31:33] Speaker 2: the story he never likes to tell anyone. For a
[31:35] Speaker 2: moment of quiet, you asked, George Clooney, would you work
[31:38] Speaker 2: with him again? He sits up no longer in the desert.
[31:41] Speaker 2: He looks at you. Then he gives you that movie
[31:42] Speaker 2: star grin and says life's too short to work with him.
[31:47] Speaker 3: Elizabeth, I think that this episode is gonna have the
[31:50] Speaker 3: most bleeps ever.
[31:51] Speaker 2: Ever, Yeah, as you just learned, George Clooney had a
[31:54] Speaker 2: really hard time getting over nearly killing David A. Russell.
[31:57] Speaker 3: Could you imagine if he had what if Cloney got
[32:01] Speaker 3: had squeezed the life.
[32:04] Speaker 2: By mistake, just didn't get there Walda wasn't there in time.
[32:07] Speaker 3: And he's like, does time and we can't tell this
[32:10] Speaker 3: story because it's a murder.
[32:11] Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. He slipped from ninety nine into the Yeah.
[32:15] Speaker 2: Now it took h like George cliney about well more
[32:19] Speaker 2: than a decade to get over this, yeah, like, well
[32:21] Speaker 2: more like two decades. Oh yeah, he didn't just talk
[32:25] Speaker 2: about it with you. His therapist occasionally journals asked him
[32:28] Speaker 2: about it, and he gave a candid answer. In two
[32:29] Speaker 2: thousand and four, six years after their blowout, George Clooney
[32:32] Speaker 2: told Premier Magazine. Remember Premier Magazine, Oh yeah Magazine, if
[32:36] Speaker 2: he ever saw David or Russell again in person, he'd
[32:38] Speaker 2: probably knock his block off, or, as George Clooney put it,
[32:42] Speaker 2: quite literally, quote quite honestly, if he comes near me,
[32:45] Speaker 2: I'll sock him right in the mouth. Oh whoa, mister,
[32:48] Speaker 2: George Clooney, you kissed your mother with that mouth. Now
[32:52] Speaker 2: around that same time, David R. Russell fired back that
[32:54] Speaker 2: one he didn't start their fight or their feud, but
[32:57] Speaker 2: he also wasn't afraid to end it. Where's David ll
[33:00] Speaker 2: put it? I never physically attacked him. If I ran
[33:02] Speaker 2: into him, I'd just say shut the few lying ass. No,
[33:07] Speaker 2: they're feud bubbled a while longer. And then just last
[33:11] Speaker 2: year in twenty twenty four, remember what happened in nineteen
[33:14] Speaker 2: ninety eight, So twenty six years after their initial fight
[33:17] Speaker 2: on that film, said George Clooney was finally ready to
[33:20] Speaker 2: make peace with the murderous place that David Russell pushed
[33:22] Speaker 2: him to that faithful day. In an interview with Variety,
[33:25] Speaker 2: he used David Russell as a shorthand Clooney said, quote,
[33:28] Speaker 2: the older you get, time allotment is very different. Five
[33:30] Speaker 2: months out of your life is a lot. And so
[33:32] Speaker 2: it's not just like, oh, I'm gonna go do a
[33:34] Speaker 2: really good film like Three Kings, and I'm gonna have
[33:36] Speaker 2: to have a miserable like David 'russell making my life hell,
[33:39] Speaker 2: making every person on the cruise life hell. It's not
[33:42] Speaker 2: worth it. Not at this point in my life. You
[33:44] Speaker 2: just have to have a good product. He's still banging
[33:47] Speaker 2: away on that same palm, still using David Russell as
[33:49] Speaker 2: a low water lark.
[33:50] Speaker 3: Great exactly.
[33:52] Speaker 2: The Clooney also did acknowledge that he's trying to let
[33:54] Speaker 2: things go. Back in twenty fourteen, he did try to
[33:57] Speaker 2: end dis feud with David Russell. Apparently he said to
[33:59] Speaker 2: the filmmaker, quote, there came a time when I just
[34:01] Speaker 2: said to him, justn't going to go on forever. We've
[34:04] Speaker 2: got to shake hands and let it go. I don't
[34:06] Speaker 2: know if that happens, because from what George Clooney told
[34:09] Speaker 2: the outlet Showbiz for one one, and from what else
[34:12] Speaker 2: he told one one dot com, Clooney added, we put
[34:15] Speaker 2: it behind us, and that's great now, no details, But
[34:18] Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four speaking of variety, he still sounded bitter.
[34:21] Speaker 2: So maybe expect him again next week for your weekly
[34:24] Speaker 2: therapy sessions. Okay, yeah, anyway, this brings us to our
[34:28] Speaker 2: next huge David or Russell blow up, if you can
[34:31] Speaker 2: believe it. The mad filmmaker picked a fight with a
[34:33] Speaker 2: star he'd worked with before. He decided to come at
[34:35] Speaker 2: Lily Tomlin.
[34:37] Speaker 3: Oh that's a bad movie.
[34:38] Speaker 2: God just saying these words pisses me off, like how
[34:41] Speaker 2: dare you sir? But dare you come after? American comedy
[34:44] Speaker 2: legend Lily Toms, Oh, punch you in the mouth, but
[34:47] Speaker 2: George Clooney's fist. So let me go cool off a bit,
[34:49] Speaker 2: listen to some ads, chill my monkey mind, and after
[34:51] Speaker 2: this break, I'll tell you about David or Russell versus
[34:54] Speaker 2: Lily Tomlin. Oh good, Elizabeth.
[35:19] Speaker 4: I know I've never left no I did.
[35:21] Speaker 3: So.
[35:21] Speaker 2: Did you ever see the two thousand and four movie
[35:23] Speaker 2: I Heart Huckabees?
[35:24] Speaker 4: No?
[35:25] Speaker 2: Now, okay?
[35:26] Speaker 3: Made me think of Mike Huckabee. I wouldn't watch.
[35:28] Speaker 2: He reviews on principle. So Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin
[35:31] Speaker 2: are existential detectives. Existential Isabelle Huperre is their rival, a
[35:38] Speaker 2: French existential detective.
[35:41] Speaker 3: This is a precious by half.
[35:43] Speaker 2: Jason Schwartzman is an environmentalist who's depressed. Jude Law is
[35:47] Speaker 2: an executive at a major like big box store kind
[35:49] Speaker 2: of thing. Naomi Watts is their spokesmodel, and Marky Mark
[35:53] Speaker 2: Wahlberg is a firefighter who is traumatized by nine to eleven.
[35:56] Speaker 2: All of them hire, all of them hire the existential detectives,
[36:00] Speaker 2: and they all have their like karma be interlinked and interwoven,
[36:04] Speaker 2: and they have to resolve it through each other existentially.
[36:07] Speaker 4: I am so glad I saw it in.
[36:10] Speaker 2: The theaters, I'm sure. Now, before I tell you about
[36:14] Speaker 2: the Lily Tomlin versus David or Russell blow up, I
[36:16] Speaker 2: should tell you about him attacking fellow director Christopher Nolan. Oh,
[36:20] Speaker 2: he was about the casting for iHeart Huckabees, So we
[36:22] Speaker 2: should go sequentially. Yeah, So they both wanted golden boy
[36:25] Speaker 2: of the moment, Jude Law for their next films, right,
[36:28] Speaker 2: and so the two directors fought over the very very
[36:30] Speaker 2: pretty boy, like literally fought over him because of Christopher
[36:33] Speaker 2: Nolan is about to make his movie that would make
[36:36] Speaker 2: his name, Memento. He hadn't made it yet, so he's
[36:38] Speaker 2: like coming into Hollywood. They like, people are excited about it.
[36:41] Speaker 2: But they're both young directors making their first films. So
[36:44] Speaker 2: it's two thousand and three, the film is in pre production.
[36:46] Speaker 2: iHeart Huckebyes. David or Russell really wants Jude Law, but
[36:50] Speaker 2: Judelaud already signed on for Christopher Nolan's movie Memento, So
[36:54] Speaker 2: I guess he's gonna play the Guy Pierce part.
[36:55] Speaker 3: I think that it's good that it shook out the
[36:58] Speaker 3: way it is.
[36:58] Speaker 2: I totally because he kills them.
[37:00] Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
[37:00] Speaker 2: Anyway, the two filmmakers were at some Hollywood party. David
[37:02] Speaker 2: or Russell sees Christopher Nolan. He's like, he's got my actor.
[37:05] Speaker 2: So he decides to go up to him and get
[37:07] Speaker 2: his actor back from him, or from him just in general.
[37:10] Speaker 2: He confronts Christopher Nolan in front of all these guests,
[37:12] Speaker 2: and then when he doesn't get the answer he wants,
[37:14] Speaker 2: which is you can have Jude Law, he throws an
[37:16] Speaker 2: arm around Christopher Nolan's neck and puts him in a
[37:18] Speaker 2: chokehold until he relents and gives him Jude Law.
[37:21] Speaker 3: Oh violence, Yeah, to me, we have We've got crimes,
[37:24] Speaker 3: we got a lot of assault.
[37:25] Speaker 4: Battle.
[37:26] Speaker 2: He demands artistic solidarity from his colleague with him at
[37:29] Speaker 2: a choke hold. Yeah, he says, give him Jude Law
[37:32] Speaker 2: so he can save his film, like I need him
[37:34] Speaker 2: to save my phone.
[37:35] Speaker 3: At that point, if I'm I'm never going to give
[37:38] Speaker 3: him up.
[37:39] Speaker 2: At that point, people are shocked. Everyone who's in the party.
[37:42] Speaker 2: The story ping pongs through Hollywood the next day, but
[37:45] Speaker 2: that same next day, Jude Law drops out of Memento
[37:47] Speaker 2: and signs on to iHeart Huckabees.
[37:50] Speaker 3: Wow.
[37:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, the story is so precious though, because Judelaw calls
[37:52] Speaker 2: David Russell from a boat that's quote crossing the Atlantic.
[37:55] Speaker 2: He discusses his Huckabees' role at length end quote. Now
[37:59] Speaker 2: this said, David Russell film from the alternate casting of
[38:02] Speaker 2: Jim Carrey, if there was a role, if Jim Carrey
[38:06] Speaker 2: and Jude lock him play, you haven't decided what that
[38:09] Speaker 2: role is yet. Different. Yeah. So anyway, that was just
[38:12] Speaker 2: the beginning because reading up on his antics, I kept thinking,
[38:14] Speaker 2: there's no way in hell I could get away with
[38:16] Speaker 2: any of the behavior that I've so far heard from
[38:18] Speaker 2: this guy, and it's only about to get worse. Like
[38:21] Speaker 2: some of what he does would probably get me a
[38:23] Speaker 2: visit from the LAPD. Like I'm probably sure i'd test charges. So,
[38:26] Speaker 2: as The New York Times reported back in two thousand
[38:28] Speaker 2: and four, quote to get the performances he was after,
[38:30] Speaker 2: mister Russell did all he could to raise the level
[38:32] Speaker 2: of tension on set, unapologetically goating, shocking, and teasing as actors.
[38:37] Speaker 2: That's not the part about the LAPD. I'm talking this
[38:39] Speaker 2: next part. Yeah, so can we get an example what
[38:41] Speaker 2: she means there?
[38:42] Speaker 3: Great question, Elizabeth Pleasure, such pointed, hard hitting and perfect question.
[38:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, it's just incredible. I'm on July thirty first,
[38:52] Speaker 2: two thousand and three. The film was on set shooting,
[38:55] Speaker 2: and during a break while his crew worked on the
[38:57] Speaker 2: next setup, the director was entertaining his cast with a
[38:59] Speaker 2: quote GRAPHI recounting of a baby passing through the birth canal.
[39:03] Speaker 2: He's never given birth, but he's just talking about I've
[39:05] Speaker 2: reading this last night on the toilet. I get. I
[39:07] Speaker 2: don't know. So what he said is all dressed lit,
[39:11] Speaker 2: the camera's ready. Actors take their place on the set.
[39:14] Speaker 2: They go over blocking and they're having a confab about
[39:17] Speaker 2: the blocking, and so they have Lily Thomas seated at
[39:20] Speaker 2: a desk. He's got her legs up on the desk.
[39:21] Speaker 2: He's supposed to be reading through a file. Dustin Hoffman
[39:24] Speaker 2: is behind her. He's at two huge chalkboards like you'd
[39:27] Speaker 2: find in a school classroom, and he's just working on that.
[39:30] Speaker 2: Jason Schwartzman is seated opposite the desk from her, facing
[39:33] Speaker 2: Lily Tomlin and facing Dustin Hoffman, and he's again the
[39:36] Speaker 2: client position, listening to their proposal, their pitch, what have you,
[39:40] Speaker 2: and so they're going over, how are we going to
[39:41] Speaker 2: do this scene? Right? So at this point I remember
[39:44] Speaker 2: Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin. They're playing Existential Detectives. Jason Schwartzman
[39:48] Speaker 2: is their client and he hates Jude Law, the corporate executive,
[39:51] Speaker 2: who is another client of the same Existential Detectives. And
[39:54] Speaker 2: so this is the existential quandary they're trying to work out.
[39:57] Speaker 2: The karmas are clearly linked. So we're talking about like
[40:00] Speaker 2: the foibles and frailties of human life. And you got
[40:02] Speaker 2: David Russell going, how do I add more attention to
[40:04] Speaker 2: this mix? Yeah, anyway, they're all on set all but
[40:07] Speaker 2: Jude Law and Lily tom is having a hard time
[40:09] Speaker 2: with David Russell's direction, so she snaps back that she's
[40:12] Speaker 2: not getting the answer she needs from him. And I
[40:14] Speaker 2: know all this because there's a video of this onset
[40:16] Speaker 2: exchange he got leaked. And it's not actually not just one,
[40:20] Speaker 2: but two videos got leaked. You can find them on YouTube.
[40:22] Speaker 2: I watched them, so you don't have to, Elizabeth. Yes,
[40:24] Speaker 2: let me lay it out like this. So Dustin Hoffmann,
[40:26] Speaker 2: as I said at the jockboard, Jason Schwartzman, he now
[40:29] Speaker 2: starts standing. He's opposite the desk, so he's milling about
[40:31] Speaker 2: in front of the camera. Lily tom was still seated.
[40:33] Speaker 2: David Russell's just seated below the camera, out of view,
[40:36] Speaker 2: but he's on the set so you can hear his voice,
[40:38] Speaker 2: so they're responding to him. Lily Tomlin has an issue
[40:41] Speaker 2: with the blocking and some stage business about the file whatever.
[40:44] Speaker 2: So to give you an accurate rendition, I created a
[40:46] Speaker 2: transcript of his rant thank you. His opening statement is you,
[40:51] Speaker 2: I'm just trying to help you. Do you understand me.
[40:54] Speaker 2: I'm being a collaborator. I'm just trying to help you
[40:57] Speaker 2: figure out the picture. Okay, oh? Exit doesn't hoffin, No,
[41:02] Speaker 2: he just sort of ambles off the set. When Lily
[41:04] Speaker 2: Tomin gets called a bitch to her face, doesn't say anything,
[41:06] Speaker 2: just ambles off the set. Jason Schwartzman just sits there,
[41:08] Speaker 2: diligent leagues. You know, good actor, because at this point
[41:11] Speaker 2: David Russell pops up now and he's fighting mad. He
[41:13] Speaker 2: dramatically sweeps all of the papers and whatnot off of
[41:16] Speaker 2: Lily Tomlin's desk and there's someone like a staffer who's
[41:19] Speaker 2: seated by the wall of the set and they get hit.
[41:22] Speaker 2: I think it's a gaffer because they have all this
[41:23] Speaker 2: gaffer tape hanging off their belt, so they get hit
[41:26] Speaker 2: by everything that's being swept off. It's mostly papers, but
[41:28] Speaker 2: there's a couple of hard objects in there. They don't
[41:30] Speaker 2: scream or yell or anything, but it's like they get
[41:32] Speaker 2: hit by a bunch of stuff whatever on set workplace violence.
[41:36] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[41:37] Speaker 2: In response to her director's sudden outburst, Lily Tomlin jumps
[41:40] Speaker 2: up right and you know, because she doesn't know what
[41:42] Speaker 2: he might do next, if he's gonna like flip the
[41:43] Speaker 2: desk or whatever, and she doesn't want to be seated
[41:45] Speaker 2: in this awkward and vulnerable position. And he is far
[41:48] Speaker 2: from done. So David Russell then says to Lily Tomlin,
[41:51] Speaker 2: I'm not here to be yelled at. I worked on
[41:54] Speaker 2: this thing for three years not to have some yell
[41:58] Speaker 2: let me in front of them. But I'm trying to
[42:01] Speaker 2: help you figure it out yourself.
[42:04] Speaker 4: Are you the direct real.
[42:06] Speaker 2: Sort of Lily Tomlin then says, rather calmly, well, I
[42:09] Speaker 2: have to do that what but basically figure it out herself.
[42:13] Speaker 3: You don't have a conversation with that. You either walk
[42:16] Speaker 3: or you give him the business end of a Louisville slugger.
[42:18] Speaker 3: There's no between.
[42:20] Speaker 2: David Russell jumps immediately on her words and says, yeah, yourself,
[42:24] Speaker 2: to which Lily Tomlin now replies, good. Why don't you
[42:27] Speaker 2: just your whole movie now? David or Russell interjects, I
[42:31] Speaker 2: wrote this for you, and Lily Tomlin again calmly responds
[42:35] Speaker 2: why don't you your whole movie? Because that's what you're doing,
[42:38] Speaker 2: and David or Russell takes issue with her assessment of
[42:40] Speaker 2: how he's ruining his movie, so he fires back, why
[42:43] Speaker 2: don't you shut up before you're doing a one woman
[42:46] Speaker 2: show again. At this point, he storms off the set,
[42:49] Speaker 2: but he can be heard yelling in the background, why
[42:51] Speaker 2: don't you act like a grown up?
[42:54] Speaker 4: Oh? The iron is God, it's rich.
[42:57] Speaker 2: So then, through the magic of movies, he reappears on
[42:59] Speaker 2: the set because he walks through a set door and
[43:01] Speaker 2: continues to shout at Lily Tomlin, Yeah he's no Like
[43:06] Speaker 2: he's on stage right and he's yelling, you're a grown up.
[43:09] Speaker 2: Act like a grown up. You're not a baby, You're.
[43:11] Speaker 4: A grown up.
[43:12] Speaker 2: I'm here to help you. That's all I was doing,
[43:15] Speaker 2: was trying to help you. Is he is he talking
[43:18] Speaker 2: to himself? He seems like he should be talking to himself.
[43:21] Speaker 2: At that point, they speak over each other and becomes
[43:22] Speaker 2: unintelligible until Lily Tomlin finally says in a pause, because
[43:26] Speaker 2: you're yelling. Really sets off David or russelling. He yells back,
[43:29] Speaker 2: do you want yelling? Do you want that? At this point,
[43:32] Speaker 2: Jason Schwartzman, who's now in the line of fire because
[43:35] Speaker 2: he's the director's just flailing his arms. He pops up.
[43:38] Speaker 2: He also leaves the set, so now it's just him
[43:40] Speaker 2: and Lily tom When David Russell Lily Toman on the set,
[43:42] Speaker 2: David Russell's not done yelling. He shouts, did I yell
[43:45] Speaker 2: you before? Right now?
[43:46] Speaker 6: No?
[43:47] Speaker 2: I never yelled at you, and She's like the irony
[43:50] Speaker 2: is lost on him entirely, right, but not Lily Tomlin.
[43:53] Speaker 2: She starts laughing in his face and then he At
[43:56] Speaker 2: this point he flees the set. He knocks over a
[43:58] Speaker 2: standing lamp like like a two year old throwing a tantrum,
[44:01] Speaker 2: throws it to the ground like like a thin like
[44:03] Speaker 2: the lamp, and walks off the set watching it all
[44:06] Speaker 2: go down. I was like, you can do that if
[44:08] Speaker 2: I don't think I would ever work anywhere ever, again,
[44:10] Speaker 2: if I did even like a third tenth, one hundred
[44:14] Speaker 2: no David wrestling, he hits a crew member with the stuff,
[44:17] Speaker 2: he scares dusting off the he broke props. I mean,
[44:20] Speaker 2: if I was working at a restaurant and I didn't
[44:22] Speaker 2: even like I broke a mop, right, there's high odds.
[44:25] Speaker 2: Like if I started yelling at my boss and telling
[44:27] Speaker 2: everybody to like f off, I would probably spend the
[44:29] Speaker 2: night in jail, Like if my boss wanted to press charges, Like,
[44:31] Speaker 2: but you act like this on a film set in Hollywood,
[44:33] Speaker 2: Everyone's like, you have to understand he's a genius. Like
[44:36] Speaker 2: I can't tell my restaurant boss like, hey, you understand
[44:39] Speaker 2: I mistreat everyone here because I'm a genius. I just
[44:42] Speaker 2: doesn't play the same.
[44:43] Speaker 3: I feel like you reach. I'm surprised that Lily Tomlin
[44:48] Speaker 3: for having such a long career.
[44:51] Speaker 2: Almost all of them take the tone though.
[44:52] Speaker 3: Yeah, but like I just feel like you could Like
[44:56] Speaker 3: I can see young people not wanting to set those boundaries.
[44:59] Speaker 3: But you reach a certain age you would think and
[45:01] Speaker 3: you're like.
[45:02] Speaker 2: No, Dustin Offfen didn't say anything.
[45:04] Speaker 4: We got we.
[45:06] Speaker 2: Got oscar winners. Oh yeah, he's not going to defend
[45:08] Speaker 2: a woman based on his history. But I'm thinking we have,
[45:11] Speaker 2: like you know, people who have secure positions in the industry.
[45:13] Speaker 2: You're not choosing not to say.
[45:14] Speaker 3: Anything, ye poets, soul I can't.
[45:20] Speaker 2: Well, Also, Elizabeth, I think what we're skipping past where
[45:22] Speaker 2: I'm over, I'm not really pointing out it well, is
[45:25] Speaker 2: this is the power of cinema, or really it's the
[45:28] Speaker 2: power of a camera, because it's like they say, if
[45:30] Speaker 2: you don't want to get busted for prostitution, just make
[45:32] Speaker 2: sure there's a camera in the room. Boom. Now it's
[45:34] Speaker 2: a porn set. Totally legal, totally cool. So back to
[45:38] Speaker 2: David R. Russell versus Lily tom If you ask either
[45:41] Speaker 2: of the participants about their kerfuffle, they both dismiss it,
[45:44] Speaker 2: which is basically what we've just been talking about. They
[45:46] Speaker 2: act like it was nothing, business as usual, like this
[45:48] Speaker 2: is just how it works in Hollywood. David or Russell said, sure,
[45:51] Speaker 2: I wish I hadn't done that, but Lily and I
[45:53] Speaker 2: are fine now. Lily Thomas said practically the same thing.
[45:56] Speaker 2: She said It's not a practice on his part or
[45:58] Speaker 2: my part. I'd rather have someone human and available and
[46:01] Speaker 2: raw and open, don't give me something cold or cut off,
[46:03] Speaker 2: or someone who considers themselves dignified. To further clarify, oh,
[46:08] Speaker 2: I demanded any so to further clarify that, Lily Tomlin
[46:12] Speaker 2: spoke more to her on set blow up with David
[46:14] Speaker 2: or Russell. She further excused his semi criminal tendencies. She
[46:18] Speaker 2: put in a twenty eleven interview with The Outlet movie
[46:21] Speaker 2: line quote, David is a very mercurial person, and that's
[46:25] Speaker 2: part of why he's so brilliant. He almost reflects the movie.
[46:28] Speaker 2: I did two movies with him, and I heard Huckeybes
[46:30] Speaker 2: was so crazy, so all over the place. I think
[46:32] Speaker 2: he kind of embodies intuitively, whatever he's trying to make happen.
[46:36] Speaker 2: It was just crazy, crazy stuff. We were always doing
[46:39] Speaker 2: something and then we'd get manic and crazy and I
[46:41] Speaker 2: just flipped out on him, and then he flipped out
[46:43] Speaker 2: on me, And you know, stuff goes on, but it's nothing.
[46:46] Speaker 2: It's like family. If you have a big fight in
[46:48] Speaker 2: your family. Usually he's treated that way on the set.
[46:50] Speaker 2: We don't want to misbehave believe me. It's embarrassing. It's
[46:53] Speaker 2: it's humiliating, you know, because you just lose it. You
[46:58] Speaker 2: act like a crazy person. But I adore David. I
[47:00] Speaker 2: adore him as a talent. A lot of my friends said, well,
[47:04] Speaker 2: you won't work with him again. I said, of course
[47:07] Speaker 2: I would. I adore him. I love him. He's brilliant.
[47:11] Speaker 2: That's Elizabeth. Now I'm going to come in here and
[47:14] Speaker 2: tell you where to stick it and throw a laptop
[47:16] Speaker 2: at producer Dan. You guys will have to understand, this
[47:18] Speaker 2: is just my passion, my genius. You can't press charges.
[47:21] Speaker 3: You would just see you look out the window, see the.
[47:26] Speaker 2: So what's a ridiculous takeaway herebeth.
[47:30] Speaker 3: Ah, I'm still processing that whole rant. Right o, God,
[47:35] Speaker 3: I think you know. There's a show out called the Studio.
[47:41] Speaker 2: Oh yes, Seth Rogan really really good. Yeah go check it.
[47:45] Speaker 2: It's hilarious. App it's a great view of Hollywood too.
[47:48] Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. Like it's it's very permonal because
[47:51] Speaker 3: it's just the look of it, and like the way
[47:54] Speaker 3: it's shot in the color PILM whatever. But like the
[47:57] Speaker 3: way they've created these characters and get you in these
[48:00] Speaker 3: like emotional swings and the tension. But one of the
[48:03] Speaker 3: kind of recurring themes is how fake everyone is in Hollywood,
[48:09] Speaker 3: and so everyone's.
[48:10] Speaker 4: Working in angle self serving and so.
[48:12] Speaker 3: They'll take this kind of garbage behavior because they're willing
[48:17] Speaker 3: to do that in order to get this paychecker, in
[48:19] Speaker 3: order to maneuver to get into a different film, or
[48:22] Speaker 3: just to be in a certain circle. And I just
[48:25] Speaker 3: that is really hard for me to get my head around, because,
[48:27] Speaker 3: like I said, you come to a certain age in
[48:29] Speaker 3: your life where you're just like, no, no, I put
[48:32] Speaker 3: up boundaries. No, it's not worth it, like in the
[48:35] Speaker 3: Grand Scheme, and it's everywhere.
[48:37] Speaker 2: It's the agents, the producers, the directors, the stars. I mean,
[48:40] Speaker 2: it's not just like, oh, just the stars, and it's everywhere.
[48:42] Speaker 2: Anyone knows power. They start to excuse this behavior.
[48:45] Speaker 3: Right, Saren, what's your reading?
[48:48] Speaker 2: Oh I didn't prepare that. Uh well, okay, I'll just
[48:50] Speaker 2: I'll say this honestly, all jokes. Society Elizabeth is wild,
[48:52] Speaker 2: like doing the show and talking about ridiculous criminals all
[48:55] Speaker 2: the time, and then you read the news and you
[48:57] Speaker 2: read story sometimes and it's like, wait, wait, how is
[48:59] Speaker 2: this not a crime yeah, right, and then like, how
[49:01] Speaker 2: is this okay? Which just goes to show you that
[49:03] Speaker 2: the law is more like guidelines than hard and fast rules.
[49:07] Speaker 3: And it doesn't apply to everybody, right.
[49:08] Speaker 2: I mean, you go and try to choke George Clooney
[49:10] Speaker 2: and you see what happens to you. Is that it?
[49:13] Speaker 2: That's it there, That's all I got for you this time.
[49:16] Speaker 2: All right, Elizabeth, you're in the mood for a talk back?
[49:18] Speaker 4: Oh yes, please, can you favor us with one?
[49:24] Speaker 2: Oh my god, ill get.
[49:35] Speaker 5: Hi.
[49:35] Speaker 7: Saron and Elizabeth make from Perth, still doing the Masters.
[49:38] Speaker 7: I'm putting my desk together in my new office that
[49:41] Speaker 7: my partner and I have been spending a week putting together.
[49:46] Speaker 5: And anytime I'm doing anything to do with UNI, I
[49:49] Speaker 5: think of you, lovely people, Sarah, Elizabeth, Dave the rude dude.
[49:55] Speaker 5: So shout out to my man Blake, and I'd love
[49:58] Speaker 5: having you here with me these two years that are
[50:01] Speaker 5: tough but awesome.
[50:02] Speaker 3: Take it slazy, We're so bad.
[50:05] Speaker 2: We can be there for you.
[50:06] Speaker 3: I love megs updates on the Master's program.
[50:09] Speaker 2: Good luck we got you back on this.
[50:11] Speaker 3: Oh yeah, of course, but that's awesome. I love that
[50:14] Speaker 3: and I love a good office.
[50:17] Speaker 2: You do, I do well as always. You can find
[50:19] Speaker 2: us online Ridiculous Crime on blue Ski and uh Instagram
[50:24] Speaker 2: and uh fanger and we also have our website ridiculous
[50:27] Speaker 2: Crime dot com. I think we were just nominated for
[50:31] Speaker 2: a Hugo Award, so very excited about that. A sci
[50:33] Speaker 2: fi award. That's big time for me. Also, we love
[50:37] Speaker 2: your talkback, so please go to the iHeart app downloaded,
[50:40] Speaker 2: leave a talk back and maybe you'll hear your voice
[50:41] Speaker 2: and you could say something cool. We'll be like, yeah,
[50:43] Speaker 2: looks at you.
[50:44] Speaker 3: You rock.
[50:45] Speaker 2: So also emails if you like a Ridiculous Crime at
[50:47] Speaker 2: gmail dot com. And we have our new YouTube channel,
[50:51] Speaker 2: so go check that out. It's Ridiculous Crime Pod at YouTube.
[50:54] Speaker 2: Tell your friends, tell your family, you know, tell your
[50:56] Speaker 2: enemies maybe they need a laugh. And uh, there you go.
[50:59] Speaker 2: That's all I got for you. So thanks for listening.
[51:00] Speaker 2: We will catch you next crime. Ridiculous Crime is hosted
[51:09] Speaker 2: by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Brenette, produced and edited by
[51:12] Speaker 2: George Clooney's corner man Dave Kustin and Starry Annaly's Rucker
[51:16] Speaker 2: as Judith. Research is by Lily Tomlin's fight trainer Marissa Brown.
[51:20] Speaker 2: Our theme song is by Taya Leoni Truthers, Thomas Lee
[51:23] Speaker 2: and Travis Dutton. The host wardrobe provided by Botany five,
[51:27] Speaker 2: guest hair and makeup by Sparkleshot and The Miss Stood
[51:30] Speaker 2: on the Day. Executive producers are David or Russell's sparring
[51:33] Speaker 2: partners Ben Bolin and Ol Brown.
[51:43] Speaker 3: Why Say It One More Time? Crime?
[51:48] Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more podcasts
[51:51] Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
[51:55] Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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