David O. Russell Abandons Troubled 'Nailed'

Finally, some common sense. I've never understood why Hollywood believes that walking away from a project is a last resort. When so much money is on the line and when so much money is involved with just releasing a film, sometimes you're better off just never getting to that point, especially when so many hurdles are thrown in your path. I feel that way about The Hobbit, and I'm glad to see that the next James Bond movie isn't happening until the financial side gets sorted out, and now there's an update on Nailed, a project David O. Russell has been nurturing for a couple of years. It's a political satire starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel about a waitress shot in the head with a nail gun, and when she heads to Washington to testify for the need of better health care, falls into a relationship with a brainless congressman. Russell has walked off the project after a round of negotiations with Ronald Tutor, who is in line to run Miramax and said recently he doesn't foresee himself running the operations day-to-day. In fact, he said he doesn't really care about the film business. But after the director and the financier met and couldn't come to an agreement, it was the last straw for the notably mercurial Russell. Both sides spoke to The Hollywood Reporter. Here's Russell's side of things:

"This has been a painful process for me. The multiple production delays and stoppages, which were caused by David Bergstein and preceded Ron Tutor's direct involvement with me, have now spanned two years, and the circumstances under which the film would now be completed are much different on several fundamental levels than when we embarked several years ago. I, unfortunately, am no longer involved in the project and cannot call it 'my' film. I wish Ron Tutor well."

David Bergstein worked or works with Tutor at Pangea Media Group, but he's run into a spot of trouble recently, to put it mildly. It's alleged that he put up capital from what was ThinkFilm for gambling markers at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. That's about $950,000. Smooth. His money woes became so bad that Tutor had to essentially get Nailed and a few other projects out of hock, which is why he feels a bigger stake in this film than he presumably will a Miramax venture down the line. On Bergstein's watch, Nailed ran out of money and was delayed four times...in 2008 alone. Now for the reshoots, which will involve Biel and Tracy Morgan, neither star will be paid anything because of the original contracts they signed. But now those contracts reflect a film that will have a new director and a new team of producers, since Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick have bailed on this, too. So, give Russell the gold star for common sense - he actually shot The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams while this film was held up - and wonder aloud why it's worth throwing more money at Nailed to even try completing it.