‘American Hustle’ Director David O. Russell Loves ‘Casting Actors Against Type’

American Hustle director David O. Russell thinks everyone in the movie is playing against type. That’s because he loves casting actors and actresses in this fashion.

The acclaimed filmmaker is currently putting the finishing touches on his upcoming dramatic comedy. Although he’s reportedly mixing sound this week, that didn’t stop Russell from showing off six minutes from the flick at this year’s AFI Fest.

According to USA Today, the American Hustle director loves casting actors against type. However, Russell stopped short of revealing too many details about his latest cinematic effort since it tends to make him more than a little nervous.

“I’m superstitious so I don’t want to say too much, but I’m very excited about it. We watched the film yesterday and it’s wonderful to see when everything comes together at a higher level than it was before, even when you were excited about it before,” the filmmaker recently explained.

Here’s how the publication described the first six minutes of American Hustle:

“The clip opens on a paunchy, balding Christian Bale methodically applying a toupee with glue in a room at the Plaza Hotel. Enter cocky FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), who tussles briefly with the scam artist over Bale’s British lover (Amy Adams). All are preparing a sting operation involving the mayor (Jeremy Renner), which immediately goes wrong.”

During a recent conversation with Flicks and Bits, David O. Russell said that American Hustle allowed him to “true story and made it personal and fictional.” When asked to elaborate on that comment, the filmmaker offered up the following explanation:

“It means that I want to focus on the characters more than an event. In ‘American Hustle,’ there was an event in the ’70s where a Bronx-born con artist and his partner in crime — that’s Christian Bale and Amy Adams, a woman from England, or supposed to be from England — were forced to work for the Federal government, and they taught the government how to con, and how to create a theater to draw other people in, based on what their hopes were. And this was during a recession.”

Russell only has a few weeks left to get his new movie in working order. Unless this date changes between now and then, the comedy is presently scheduled to arrive in select theaters on December 13. Not surprisingly, this is just in time for awards season.

Are you a fan of David O. Russell? Do you plan to catch American Hustle when it lands in theaters across the nation next month?

[Image via Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures]