The Director David Russell Was A Monster

It seems he made a calculated decision to be a monster on the set. Here's from an article in the New York Times (regarding a scene that didn't make it into the final cut of the film, shot one week before the incident of Russell shouting at Lily Tomlin):

July 24, 2003: The Car Trip

It is a hot, tense day in a dried-up marsh near Los Angeles International Airport. The shoot is nearing its end. Mr. Hoffman, Ms. Tomlin, Ms. Huppert, Mr. Wahlberg and Ms. Watts (devoid of make-up and wearing an Amish bonnet) are all crowded into an old Chevrolet for the critical scene in which they will articulate the movie's themes: how everything in the universe is connected, and how sadness is an inevitable part of life. In an essential bit of back story, Ms. Huppert will explain how she became a pessimist because of a failed love triangle with Ms. Tomlin and Mr. Hoffman.

The actors do take after take in the crowded car, with Mr. Russell, as is his habit, constantly throwing new lines at them from a few feet away. The dialogue is poignant and bizarre at the same time, and the scene culminates with Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Tomlin weeping simultaneously and loudly.

While the cameras roll, Mr. Russell berates the actors: "Where's the [expletive] reaction?" he swears at Mr. Hoffman.

The actors look tired. As he has throughout the shoot, Mr. Russell is touching them — a lot, and sometimes in private places. At one point, Mr. Wahlberg grabs the director's megaphone, shouting: "This man just grabbed my genitals! It is my first man-on-man contact!" At other times, the director whispers into the actresses' ears — lewdly, they later say — before a take.

So far, the actors have been remarkably tolerant of Mr. Russell's mischief. As Ms. Huppert later observed in a phone interview, the actors knew Mr. Russell was intentionally trying to destabilize them for the sake of their performances. "He is fascinating, completely brilliant, intelligent and very annoying sometimes, too," she said. They also know he has created superb films from chaotic-seeming sets before. Besides, he's the director and the writer; now that they've cast their lot with him, they really don't have a choice.

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