David O. Russell's Faux Pas At Pixar
When David O. Russell, the headlockin'est,newspaper-feudin'est director in town, ventured to Pixar's NorCal campus for a public chat with The Incredibles' Brad Bird on Friday, he obviously didn't spend too much time familiarizing himself with the studio's work. Russell made the mistake of invoking The Green Ogre That Shall Not Be Named, but somehow avoided being lynched by the crowd of animators. An attendee reports:
On Friday, David O. Russell came to Pixar to be interviewed by Brad Bird. About 150 came to see the talk, and after Bird offered many compliments to Russell about his work, Russell returned the love by stating his love of Pixar movies, including The Incredibles. But then he asked if Pixar made Shrek and everyone groaned loudly. Grasping for a line, he asked what movies Pixar did do and someone yelled out Polar Express. Russell responded that he liked that, too. More groans and laughter. He told Bird that he couldn't recover from this and maybe it was time to go. And even though he was somewhat unsuccessful in pushing for a Flirting with Disaster animated feature, I'm anxious to check out his new movie, Closer.
Russell finally attempted to save face by showing genuine interest in Pixar's creative process, sheepishly asking whether or not Michael Eisner does all of the drawing and voices himself.