David O Russell, an eccentric ball of positive energy

I have worked with a lot of directors and probably all production houses in the Hindi film industry. And I have enjoyed working all these years. However, lately I have been feeling an urge to reinvent myself – as a person and an actor. And I have had various chances to reinvent myself over the years. For instance, I feel good when I work with new age directors like Ayan Mukerji, Dobakar Banerjee, neeraj Pandey or Blessy. I feel refreshed and charged.

     But I also needed a new challenge. That is what I got when I was told I will be auditioning for a film to be directed by David O Russell, a man who had previously directed the Oscar nominated film The Fighter.

     The first time I met him was through Skype, and it was for my audition. We could not hear each other. Trust my luck to come up with these issues at a really important time. So, I recorded my audition and sent it across.

    David is an eccentric ball of extreme positive energy. He is the warmest, most passionate director and has a child like quality. He is extremely charged. He follows his gut and knows what he wants. I was as nervous as I was at the beginning of my career to get this film and was thrilled when I did.

    David understands his character’s next instinct and next move five seconds before the actor reaches that emotional space and would manipulate that understanding/ knowledge beautifully.

    Bradley Cooper and I were to do so one scene on a particular day and we ended up doing four. I was taken aback when I met him for the first time. I thought he would be extremely serious and intimidating, but he was fun and made sure I was comfortable. We did an improvisation the very first day day I met him and had Bradley believe that I didn’t understand English.

    David and I pretended to get into a big argument and Bradley was very agitated. This went on for about 20 minutes. Bradley tried everything he could to get through to me. He knows French and even tried speaking to me in that language, hoping the chaos died down. This was David’s way to make Bradley and me comfortable with each other. We had a good laugh after that.

    David knows his craft and understands the subtlety of human behavior. He  has portrayed it beautifully in all his films. He is a brilliant storyteller. He has magical moments that keep you hooked onto the story. I was hooked with the screenplay itself and I didn’t think it was possible to better it till I was on sets. He is insanely artistic. For me, constant growth is important. I felt that SLP has definitely added to me as a person, an actor and mainly as a teacher. I will always remember every single moment being directed by David O Russell.