Movies
David O. Russell: A free-flowing mind gushes with ideas

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic

MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES David O. Russell talked about what shaped his film "I [Heart] Huckabees," and sundry other things, in a recent interview in Seattle.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Other links Movies and showtimes Sign up for movies e-mail Search movies

It was midway through the interview — at the demonstration of the Pee-wee Herman "Tequila" dance, to be precise — when I realized that talking to writer/director David O. Russell is a bit like watching his new movie, "I [Heart] Huckabees" (opening Friday at the Egyptian). Both experiences are zany, talky rides, peppered with existential philosophy and snappy diversion, and both are ultimately optimistic and uplifting, if not always entirely comprehensible.

Russell, 46, an unpredictable charmer in a slightly crumpled navy suit and just-woke-up hair, came to town last week to promote "Huckabees," his fourth feature. And yes, he did talk about the movie, during an enjoyable 40 minutes in which he also discussed fashion (a publicist's snappy pink poncho), politics (a spot-on imitation of the previous night's presidential debate), technology (of a photographer's remote flash, he exclaimed, "It's like a little R2-D2!"), In Style magazine, Zen meditation, and the "big ball of wicker" given to him on his first visit to Seattle in 1994. And it all made perfect sense, if you let it.

Between all of these diversions, and a couple of dances, Russell traced the history of "Huckabees," a comedy in which a young activist (Jason Schwartzman) attempts to sort out his life by hiring a pair of existential detectives (Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin). The film has been in the making since 1990, said Russell, but it really began with his first spiritual experience, as a child, while walking on a field behind his middle school. Later readings of J.D. Salinger helped shape his ideas about spirituality and the self, as did his later studies at Amherst College with Indo-Tibetan scholar Robert Thurman (yes, Uma's father).

"Dustin Hoffman's character is based on him — he always wore suits," remembered Russell. "So it was very important for me to have these suits in the movie, a certain formality."

	CLAUDETTE BARIUS / FOX SEARCHLIGHT Jason Schwartzman, left, Jude Law, director David O. Russell and Mark Wahlberg on the set of the movie "I [Heart] Huckabees." The film is partly based on Russell's spiritual quest — and a dream.

Fast-forward to 1990, when Russell was a waiter living in Manhattan. He wrote a short film about a man who sits in the back of a Chinese restaurant, with little microphones concealed on every table. "He eavesdrops and writes insanely personal fortunes for these people, gets involved in their lives. He becomes sort of an existential detective."

Several arts organizations liked the script and gave him some grant money, but "The Fortune Cookie" never quite worked out. Eventually Russell wrote a different script for his debut feature, about a young man in the throes of an Oedipal relationship with his mother. "Spanking the Monkey" won Russell an Independent Spirit Award for best first feature, and a career was launched.

A few years later came the road movie "Flirting with Disaster," followed in 1999 by the Gulf War comedy/drama "Three Kings." Though the film was a critics' favorite, rumors flew of on-set clashes between Russell and star George Clooney. "I learned from 'Three Kings,' two things," said Russell. He pauses, charmed by the Dr. Seuss-ish couplet, wondering aloud how hard it would be to do the rest of the interview in rhyme. "One, I wanted to work with actors who I knew I would have a really good time with and would get close to. And, two, I learned that I wanted to make more personal films."

So, attempt No. 2 at what would become "Huckabees" was a screenplay based on a Zendo (a Zen temple) in New York that Russell had been attending. "At 6 every evening, lawyers and journalists and scientists and carpenters would come and take their coats off and put down their bags, sit in the semi-darkness together, silently, and investigate being and consciousness. I thought it was very funny, as well as a serious place."

Schwartzman, Tomlin and Mark Wahlberg (of "Three Kings") were all attracted to the project at this point. But the script just wasn't working, so Russell put it away. "Two weeks later I had a dream. I always write my dreams in a notebook and don't read them for a couple weeks. This time, it says, 'I'm being followed by a woman detective not for criminal reasons, for existential reasons.' And I said, oh, there's the story, that's it. And I wrote this, and my assistant Jeff (Baena) became my co-writer, because I was tired of writing alone."

Thus began the "Huckabees" adventure, which included reading the script aloud to Hoffman in order to entice him ("He said, 'Arthur Miller did that,' and I got all dumb"), recruiting Jude Law, Naomi Watts and French actress Isabelle Huppert, and conducting a free-spirited shoot of the film last year. Clearly saddened by a "hideous" recent New York Times article that described several on-set meltdowns, Russell spoke affectionately of working with his cast. "I would love to make another film with them."

Russell will next be represented in theaters by a fall re-release of "Three Kings," accompanied by his short documentary "Soldiers Pay," for which he interviewed veterans of the Gulf War, Iraqi refugees, humanitarian aide workers and "a two-star Republican general." Warner Bros., unhappy with the political content of the film, declined to release it. It is now being handled by Cinema Libre, the independent distributor which recently released "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" and "Uncovered: The War on Iraq."

For his next project, Russell is considering a children's movie, or perhaps a script that he's writing with Robert Thurman. But he's serious, he insists, about perhaps revisiting the "Huckabees" gang.

"That movie has given me so much joy," he says. "People ask me, what do you want people to take away from this movie? There's so much in it. All I want — my favorite response is when people walk out and they're kind of elated. It sort of makes people kind of giddy. You have to go with it." Kind of like the man himself.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More movies headlines...