American Hustle
Everyone hustles to survive.
American Hustle (2013)
Production
Budget
$40 000 000
Revenue
$251 171 807
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Charles Roven
Actors
Christian Bale
Irving Rosenfeld
Bradley Cooper
Richie DiMaso
Amy Adams
Sydney Prosser
Jeremy Renner
Mayor Carmine Polito
Jennifer Lawrence
Rosalyn Rosenfeld
Louis C.K.
Stoddard Thorsen
Jack Huston
Pete Musane
Michael Peña
Paco Hernandez / Sheik Abdullah
Short description
Set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, American Hustle centers on Irving Rosenfeld, a skilled con artist running financial scams in New York. His partner and lover, Sydney Prosser, is more ambitious than he is, and her recklessness brings the FBI to their door. Agent Richie DiMaso pressures the pair into working for him, steering them into a sting involving New Jersey politicians and organized crime figures, among them Camden mayor Carmine Polito. The scheme becomes increasingly risky, and Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn threatens to unravel everything. The story draws on a real FBI operation of the era.
David O. Russell directed and co-wrote the film with Eric Warren Singer. It followed The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook in Russell's filmography and reunited him with performers from those earlier projects. Christian Bale plays Irving, Bradley Cooper plays DiMaso, Amy Adams plays Sydney, Jeremy Renner plays Mayor Polito, Jennifer Lawrence plays Rosalyn and Louis C.K. appears as Stoddard Thorsen, within a credited cast of 76.
Made for about 40 million US dollars, the film took roughly 251 million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 8.2 out of 10 from 293 reviews, while on TMDB it has 6.9 out of 10 from 7,914 votes, a clear gap in which professional critics were markedly warmer than the wider audience.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming in Boston was suspended on April 19, 2013, when the city was locked down in connection with the manhunt for one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.
- The argument scene between Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence in the bedroom was entirely improvised. A version of this scene was written in the script, but the actors insisted on doing it differently, and director David O. Russell ultimately allowed them to do it their way.
- David O. Russell said that Robert De Niro didn't recognize Christian Bale on set, even after they were introduced to each other. De Niro pulled Russell aside and, pointing at Bale, asked who he was. Initially, De Niro didn't believe it was actually Bale, but after Russell convinced him it was true, De Niro was very surprised and noted that Bale looked completely different from himself. Russell then had to introduce the actors to each other again, but this time De Niro knew it was Bale.
- According to Christian Bale, much of the film was improvised. During filming, he even asked David O. Russell if he realized that the film's plot would be significantly changed. The director replied that he wasn't worried about the plot, and that he only cared about the characters themselves.
- Christian Bale gained over 18 kilograms for his role.
- After Christian Bale had already been cast in the lead role, he had to leave the project due to a scheduling conflict. His role went to Bradley Cooper, and Jeremy Renner received Cooper's old role. When Bale's scheduling issues were resolved, he returned to the project in the same role. Cooper then returned to the role of the FBI agent, and David O. Russell specifically wrote the role of Carmine Polito for Renner.
- From the very beginning, David O. Russell wrote the roles of the main characters specifically for Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., and Robert De Niro.
- It was Bradley Cooper’s idea to give his character a chemical perm, as well as to have him wear curlers in the scene in his apartment.
- The baby Jeremy Renner kisses while greeting people as mayor on the streets of Camden is actually his newborn daughter, Ava Berlin Renner, who was born while the film was in production. The woman holding Ava in the same scene is her mother, Sonny Pacheco. David O. Russell also offered Renner’s mother to act in this scene, but she declined.
- It was Amy Adams' idea for Jennifer Lawrence to kiss her in the restaurant bathroom scene.
- Sydney Prosser suggests fleeing to Romania or Estonia to hide from FBI prosecution. However, in 1978, Estonia was not yet an independent country and was part of the Soviet Union.
- When Irving climbs into the safe to get the gun, there is a pack of new-design 100-dollar bills, which only came into circulation in the late 1990s.
- The blue lights on New York's bridges were installed during the Manhattan bridge reconstruction program in 1982.
- On a Romanian calendar in the dry cleaner's, you can notice a photograph of the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, the construction of which was completed only in 1983.
- The opening scene shows the date as April 28, 1978, but the surveillance cameras then display April 26, 1978.
- When Irving leaves Polito's house, it can be noticed that after a shot change, his hair is combed to one side, then to the other.
- At the beginning of the film, the FBI agents use a ReVox tape recorder. Later in the film, in a flashback to this scene, a different tape recorder – a Teac – is shown.
- The Arabic spoken in the film is not the language of the United Arab Emirates.
- Lake Michigan never freezes over in October. Furthermore, even in November, the lake often does not freeze to the extent that allows people to go out on the ice for ice fishing.
- At the 41st minute of the second hour of the film (when Congressman Carmichael is sitting in his office and talking on the phone while holding a cigarette), a white crossover manufactured no earlier than 2010 is clearly visible passing by in the window.
- At the beginning of the film, the young hero played by Bale smashes shop windows with stones. In slow motion, it is visible that one of the windows breaks before the stone hits it.
- The film stars actors who have previously appeared in films by David O. Russell: Christian Bale and Amy Adams from "The Fighter" (2010); Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert De Niro starred in "Silver Linings Playbook" (2012).
- When Amy Adams' character first enters the "Cosmopolitan" office, a large horizontal poster of Burt Reynolds can be seen on the wall.
- Jennifer Lawrence drew inspiration from the TV series "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" (2009) while preparing for her role, and also adopted her accent from the show.
- The film is a fictionalized retelling of a case known as "Abscam." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the FBI conducted an operation that began as a tracking of stolen property but eventually turned into an investigation of political corruption.
- The script was originally titled "American Bullshit" and in 2010 ranked eighth on the Hollywood "Black List" (a list that highlights the best unproduced screenplays).
- In the early 1980s, French director Louis Malle adapted the story of "Abscam" into a screenplay titled "Moon Over Miami" starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Belushi was to play the con man, and Aykroyd the FBI agent. However, after John Belushi's death in March 1982, work on the film was halted.
- Ben Affleck was initially considered as the film's director, but he left the project to work on the adaptation of Stephen King's novel, "The Stand".
- John Merto was tracked down as a result of the FBI operation (Abscam), but he was never charged, as he refused to accept a bribe. He was later saved from prosecution by the Ethics Committee thanks to Charlie Wilson, whom Bonnie worked for – a character portrayed by Amy Adams in the film "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007).
- Coincidentally, the 28th floor is mentioned in both "American Hustle" (2013) and "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013). In "American Hustle" (2013) it refers to the 28th floor of the "Plaza Hotel" in Manhattan, while in "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013) it's the 28th floor of a hotel in Las Vegas.
- Irving Rosenfeld's character is only partially based on the life of real-life con man Melvin Weinberg, whose story is told in the book "The Sting Man" by Robert W. Greene.
- The word "fuck" is used 134 times in the film.
- Jeremy Renner's character was based on the real mayor of Camden, New Jersey – Angelo Errichetti, who was caught during the investigation of "Abscam" and subsequently spent three years in prison on bribery charges. Errichetti died at the age of 84 in May 2013, shortly before the film's release.
- Wayne Dyer's book "Power of Intention," which inspired Rosalyn, was not written until 2004.
- Stoddard Thorsen wears a "Rolex 116718 GMT Master II" wristwatch, which was first manufactured only in 2010.
- When Bale and Renner are near the Plaza Hotel, you can notice the Bergdorf Goodman store across the street, on the east side of Fifth Avenue. This store only appeared there after 1990.
- The film mentions "The Boys and Girls Club," but it only received that name in 1990. In the 1970s, it was simply "Boys Club of America."
- The sheikh arrives at Teterboro Airport on a Falcon 900 aircraft, which made its first flight only in 1984.
- During the interview scene in Armando’s office, the recording is made on a cassette recorder, and you can notice that the TDK cassette has a design from the late 1990s – early 2000s, while the microphone used strongly resembles an 80s model from Radio Shack.
- Irving twice mentions that the party where he first met Sydney was “in Long Island.” No New Yorker would say it that way. The correct way to say it is “on Long Island.”
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
