Oscar nominations: ‘Fighter’ director David O. Russell on his own comeback story
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
David O. Russell had been awakened Tuesday morning by his dog and was just trying to get back to sleep when his phone rang with the news of his Oscar nomination for best director for “The Fighter.”
“I felt really good about my brothers and sisters in my cast and for the producers,” Russell said of “The Fighter’s” Oscar chances. “But my dog had that weird sixth sense and woke me up, and then my phone rang. It was my publicist giving me the news.”
Despite having received a nomination from the Directors Guild, Russell said he was still surprised at this latest honor. “There are a lot of good directors this year and I knew it could go a lot of different ways,” he said. “When I went to sleep, my thought and prayer was just that I again had won for being able to make a picture and to be able to be a part of the picture. That allowed me to fall asleep. Don’t get hung up on this other stuff. Nobody can take that away. That’s where we’ve been since we set foot on the set. That’s the beautiful thing about working with roofers and road pavers who have huge hearts. Those are the people I was talking to this morning, the people of Lowell.”
The people of Lowell very much continue to be a part of “The Fighter’s” awards season life, Russell said, with the real-life brothers on whom the movie was based, Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, participating in the festivities.
“We got Micky and Dicky coming to the SAG awards and to our party this weekend, Colleen Camp’s legendary party,” Russell said. “She was married to John Goldwyn, she’s a producer, she was in ‘Apocalypse Now.’ I’m really glad that they will be here for that and the DGAs and the SAG stuff. Now, we’ll get them out for Oscar weekend too. It’s their heart and soul that inspired us to make that picture. That’s what audiences are connecting to, the emotion and heart of the picture and the regular working people that don’t ever give up. Quite frankly it’s no cliché when it’s their real sweat and blood.”
Although star Mark Wahlberg was not nominated for his performance as Micky Ward, Rusell pointed out that the film, which received a best picture nomination, would never have been made without him (Wahlberg is nominated as a producer on the movie). The pair spoke Tuesday morning by phone, as Wahlberg is in New Orleans shooting a film, to discuss the nominations, including those for supporting actresses Amy Adams and Melissa Leo and supporting actor Christian Bale, who plays Dicky.
“I can’t thank Mark enough,” Russell said. “We wouldn’t be here without him. There’d be no movie without him. He believed in me and he believed in the story. And he’s just so happy to have the picture there. I spoke to Amy this morning. We had our sleepy voices. We are so excited for each other. And I left word for Christian and Melissa. It’s all these actors and their phenomenal performances, which is why we are here. It’s the people of Lowell and the actors who portrayed them. It’s been very emotional for all of us, for me and my family these last couple of months.”
When asked if he views “The Fighter” as something of a comeback for him, Russell, who had developed a reputation over the years for his firebrand nature on the set, replied: “Of course. You start out humble. It’s good to come full circle. You do your best work when you’re humble. I was a ticket taker at Sundance. I got some calls from people at Sundance. I had two short films there. My first feature won the audience prize there. That’s the place I’ve been for this film. So excited and grateful to do it. It’s the best place to do everything. Otherwise you’re caught up in the wrong stuff.”
-- Nicole Sperling
RELATED:
‘The King’s Speech,’ ‘True Grit’ top Academy Award nominations