‘Huckabees’ director’s spat on Net
HOLLYWOOD — A couple of explosive video clips have been making the e-mail rounds all over town this week, featuring a highly agitated Lily Tomlin and her verbally abusive I Heart Huckabees director David O. Russell.
The recordings, made by a technician who thoughtfully allowed the tape to continue rolling, originally had been swapped between talent agencies back when the poorly-received movie came out in 2004, but have mysteriously reappeared on YouTube and other video-sharing sites.
They most definitely are not for sensitive ears.
One shows Tomlin going on an expletive-filled tirade against her off-camera director while sitting at a desk, next to a very uncomfortable-looking Dustin Hoffman.
In the other clip it’s Russell’s turn — hurling the nasty c-word in Tomlin’s direction before trashing props and storming off the set.
Given the film’s existential themes, their behaviour certainly doesn’t seem very Zen-like, although it isn’t the first time the mercurial Russell has had at it with one of his cast members.
Back during the filming of Three Kings, the nominally easy-going George Clooney was so upset by Russell’s yelling and screaming at crew members, that at one point the two actually got into a fistfight. The experience left Clooney vowing never to work with the director again.
Russell, meanwhile, hasn’t made another movie since Huckabees, but is currently developing a new comedy project tentatively called The H-Man Cometh, which has Vince Vaughn attached as a glib talk radio jock.
Wonder if Vaughn’s checked out YouTube lately?
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