Hollywood star George Clooney is popular among fans for his on-screen performances. While some recognize the actor as the con man Danny Ocean from the Ocean’s Trilogy, he is also known among his fans for portraying the DC superhero Batman, a role he recently reprised in Ezra Miller’s The Flash.
However, the crew members of his 1999 film Three Kings might recognize Clooney as the man who took a stand for them after filmmaker David O. Russell constantly humiliated them on the set.
George Clooney Confronted the Three Kings Director
George Clooney starred alongside Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube in David O. Russell’s 1999 film Three Kings. The movie follows three soldiers’ quest to look for a huge cache of gold hidden near their base. It was a critical and commercial success with many calling Clooney’s performance in the movie one of the best of his career.
The actor has also stated that Russell did “brilliant” work on the film, but he’s still against the way he behaved with the crew members on the film set. The Academy Award-winning actor shared that he was totally against humiliating the crew, and that is the reason he decided to take a stand for the staff. As per Vanity Fair, he said,
“I would not stand for him humiliating and yelling and screaming at crew members, who weren’t allowed to defend themselves. I don’t believe in it, and it makes me crazy. So my job was then to humiliate the people who were doing the humiliating.”
In another interview with Playboy, the actor explained that he constantly tried to make things work with the filmmaker. However, Russell was not really on board with his ideas and told him to focus on his performance. Clooney quoted working with Russell as “the worst experience of [his] life.” In a later interview, he shared that they had worked things out after meeting at a party.
George Clooney Sorted His Feud With David O. Russell
In an interview with Playboy, George Clooney described that he tried to pursue David O. Russell after an incident where he screamed and shouted at the crew members on the set of Three Kings and got in an altercation with an Assistant Director.
He shared that after he approached him and asked him to keep his cool, he told him, “Why don’t you just worry about your f*cked-up act?” Soon after the conversation started, the Joy director headbutted him. When asked if he had sorted things out with Russell, he said, “Life’s too short.”
During a 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 62-year-old actor shared that he was compelled to talk to the filmmaker and resolve their years-long feud. “So are we done?” he asked him at a party and settled their issues. The actor shared that he appreciates his work and hopes that Russell feels the same for him as well.
Three Kings is available on Prime Video.
Source: Vanity Fair
