David O. Russell is easily the hottest director in Hollywood right now. For the second straight year - and third time in the last four - he is up for the Best Director Oscar, this time for American Hustle. The film has been on the upswing right now, earning $100 million at the box office and loads of critical acclaim. Now, the movie has 10 Oscar nominations to go with that success.
While his individual success is historic, so is the success of his actors. This stretch started with 2010’s The Fighter, which won two acting Oscars, and continued with 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook, which won one and was nominated in all four categories. Hustle was nominated in the four acting categories as well.
“I’m over the moon about my actors being nominated, beyond happy,” Russell told TheWrap. “Every one of them took enormous risks, playing characters unlike anybody they’d played before. They put passion and heart into this crazy movie we were making, which was about this world of Americans struggling to be alive.”
Russell told USA Today that he has been texting the members of his cast, which includes Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence (all nominees). "People tend to bunker down around this time, so I e-mail and text them a lot,” he said.
He also told The New York Times that he “told everybody thank you already last night.” And while the actors and the director are getting all the attention, Russell noted that credit is due to production designer Judy Becker and costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who kept the film from going to overboard with bringing the 1970s back to life.
Russell isn’t slowing down, already dropping little hints about what he wants to do next in interviews this morning. “I am writing an opus for a community that may involve many of these actors,” he told Deadline. Considering the amount of success his directing has brought these actors, it’s doubtful that any of them would say no to working with him again.
You can check out the full list of nominations here.
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