Russell’s Nailed Gets Unhinged

Making a movie with David O. Russell is often an adventure. 

Hey, remember that weird little story about James Caan quitting the David O. Russell movie Nailed because he disagreed with the director about how exactly he should choke to death on a cookie? Well, it seems like Caan might have been onto some kind of bad vibe about the movie–the New York Times is reporting that production was shut down on Nailed on Friday. It seems that SAG pulled the actors (including stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel) off the set when it became known that the producers didn’t have the required amount of money for paying the actors set aside in an account, as mandated by the union.

Anonymous sources say it’s likely things will be cleared up and production will resume later this week, but it sounds like this is just a doomed production. First a cookie dispute with James Caan, now not enough money to pay the actors. Uh oh. On the positive side, things are never boring when you make a movie with David O. Russell.

Update: Our long, national nightmare is over. Variety reported Monday night that production on Nailed resumed in South Carolina, with all payroll issues apparently resolved. Whew! That’s good news. I was worried about Jake Gyllenhaal being able to pay his electricity bill.