Interview

The offbeat director of Spanking the Monkey and Flirting With Disaster talks about life, making movies and Ice Cube's eating habits

David O. Russell, dapper and dark haired, sitting in his plush suite at the Four Seasons hotel with a plate of asparagus and carrots in front of him, which he was fastidiously eating with a fork, was available to answer questions, while his dapper and baseball-capped personal assistant, James, fielded the phone calls that kept coming in. Though his first two movies were 'indie' (if such a word is relevant any more) the luxury in which he reposed seemed indicative of his move to the major studios.

The Harvard Crimson: How did you come upon the story upon which you based your screenplay?

David O. Russell: I had just finished filming Flirting with Disaster and Warner Bros. invited me to come look at their logs--the logs of all their properties--and I saw this script, which actually I've never read fully, described, and I just jumped on it. I've always wanted to have a larger canvas, and I've had some experiences in the Third World, in Nicaragua after I graduated from college, and it seemed a huge opportunity to deal with a subject that had never really been dealt with, comedically or dramatically. As I researched it, I found a lot of facts that hadn't been--that I wasn't aware of. The original script took place during the war, and mine takes place after the war, which I think is an important difference.