Artwork by HARIJZ
FRESH AIR
Filmmaker David O. Russell first talked with Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross back in 1994, and two decades later, he tells her: “It’s taken me 20 years since I first spoke to you to really make the films that I think I was meant to make, and to be at the level of filmmaking and storytelling and writing that I think I had ever aspired to.” Russell directed and co-wrote the movie American Hustle, which is nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, best director and best original screenplay. It’s tied with Gravity for the most nominations. Russell’s previous two films, Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter also received nominations for best picture and best director. American Hustle, set in 1978, is inspired by the Abscam scandal in which the FBI worked with a con-artist to set up a sting, in which someone posing as an Arab sheik offered bribes to politicians. The politicians who accepted the money were arrested. Christian Bale plays the con-man, who along with his partner, played by Amy Adams, is busted by an FBI agent played by Bradley Cooper. MORE
PREVIOIUSLY: Do The Hustle