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We've been patiently awaiting the inevitable announcement of I Heart Huckabees enforcer David O. Russell's next project following the unprecedented levels of buzz he's enjoying since the leak of the now-infamous outtakes from that shoot, a calling card revealing a filmmaker who countenances no lip from difficult talent, a quality always in high demand in the industry. Today's THR reports that Russell has signed on to do an adaptation of Gore Daughter chick-littish political novel Sammy's Hill; in announcing the project, producer Doug Wick trumpets Russell's talent, but inadvertently reveals the disastrous creative differences soon to come:

"It will do for Washington, D.C., what 'Talladega Nights' did for race car driving," Wick said. "We are going for a bold, subversive comedy, and David O. Russell is one of the most original voices working in comedy."

This could get good if Wick really believes that Talledega Nights constitutes "bold and subversive comedy," and that wasn't just a calculated comparison he made to make sure his project doesn't get quickly buried by a spooked Sony. But even if that kind of movie is actually what the studio expects to extract from a director who spent three years making a film about existential detectives, executives shouldn't be that surprised when they start seeing dailies in which an off-camera Russell can be heard screaming at a visibly exhausted Will Ferrell, "I don't care if we've been doing this scene for seven hours already.You will run around the Capitol building in your underwear as many fucking times as I tell you to, motherfucker. The studio wants you jogging in tighty-whiteys, that's exactly what they're fucking going to get."