Only you can stop David O. Russell

These are the times that try men’s souls.

Despite no one having anything good to say about Amsterdam or its director, David O. Russell, he has unfortunately been given the reins for another new movie. To add insult to injury, Keke Palmer and Sacha Baron Cohen have been attached as stars.

If you haven’t heard, David O. Russell is a bad dude. A truly staggering amount of incidents confirm this, including how he didn’t even deny groping his own niece to authorities when he was accused in 2012. Amsterdam being such a box office bomb should be the last thing that exiles him from Hollywood for good. He should be a pariah. And yet here we are.

The fact that people still want to throw in their lot with him is almost as mystifying as it is infuriating. It’s a well-known truth in showbiz that reprehensible behavior rarely disqualifies someone from continued success, as long as they make studio executives money. But the last time a studio let the guy who reportedly attacked Christopher Nolan make a movie, they lost close to $100 million. In what world is risking that happening again a smart business decision? What blackmail does he have on these people?

I’m not going to act like interrogating everyone involved is going to spark some kind of moral reckoning that exposes the guy who reportedly constantly abused Amy Adams on set as a creep. Sure, I wouldn’t mind getting an explanation from the likes of Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Taylor Swift, Keke Palmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Robert de Niro, Anya Taylor-Joy, and John David Washington.1 But those are just the most public faces, and moreover, the guy who screamed at Lily Tomlin and called her a cunt has been exposed multiple times. And it’s kind of ridiculous to think the people still working with him somehow aren’t aware. In all likelihood, they knew, and they made their decision with that knowledge.

But there’s one thing that is a reliable deterrent: if his movies consistently stop making money, especially due to bad PR, fewer people are going to risk associating with him. Amsterdam flopping on its own clearly wasn’t enough. A pattern needs to be established.

Luckily, there’s a very easy way to help make this happen: do nothing. Do not Pokémon Go to the cinemas. If the movie’s great, well, there are other great movies out there. If it sucks, don’t make it into a meme like Morbius. If you have to acknowledge its existence, take your pick of the million incidents the director has been involved with to mention as well. (People who have to cover the entertainment industry and can’t just ignore the movie: bonus points for asking these actors and producers why they’re working with the guy who manages his productions so poorly that the police have to shut them down.2)

It’s probably naïve to hope a boycott will completely eliminate the guy who allegedly attacked George Clooney (after allegedly attacking an extra on set) from the industry. Both Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, are, unfortunately, still walking free(ish) and still making movies.3 But that doesn’t mean there’s no point in trying at all. To quote another revolutionary facing seemingly insurmountable odds: David O. Russell, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.