The shocking incident took place at a party organized by Chanel shortly before this year’s Oscars. David O. Russell was supposed to kneel down to talk to someone. Sanford Panitch, who was passing by, did not notice him and tripped over his leg.
This enraged…Russell. Out of anger, he punched Panitch in the stomach with all his might. When the president of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group noticed who the attacker was, he ignored the entire situation. He just had to laugh and pretend that nothing had happened.
However, viewers of the incident were horrified by the whole situation. When asked to comment, the representatives of the director and producer remained silent.
David O. Russell is the author of ten films – not counting the critically crushed romantic comedy “Love by Chance”, which was completed without his participation. The last production of the creator of “American Hustle”, “The Fighter” and “Silver Linings Playbook” was the comedy “Amsterdam” with Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Christian Bale and John David Washington in the main roles. The all-star cast didn’t help. The film was a financial failure – it earned only $31.2 million against a budget of $80 million.
Although the American director was appreciated for his productions, he also faced criticism many times – primarily due to his rowdy behavior on film sets and constant insults to his co-workers. Some time ago, there was a lot of talk about an incident that occurred during the filming of “Desert Gold”. When Russell was lashing out at his assistant, George Clooney intervened and ended up in a fight with the director. The star later admitted that the set managed by Russell was “the most chaotic and aggressive place he had ever seen.”