David O. Russell moves Buddy Cianci biopic to the top of list of projects he may eventually walk out on

Although David O. Russell is typically borne aloft on the breeze, unable to be tied to anything from film projects to unsettling familial crimes, the fact that he’s nearing completion on The Silver Linings Playbook has given producer Jane Rosenthal the confidence to tether him to another longstanding Russell project: a biopic of Rhode Island mayor Buddy Cianci, Jr. The story of the colorful public servant—where “colorful” means “forced to resign and occasionally go to federal prison for charges ranging from assault to racketeering”—has been on Russell’s written-on-the-wind to-do list for some time, but Rosenthal tells the L.A. Times that now it’s “official” that Russell will definitely direct, where “official” means “optimistically confirmed, but you probably shouldn’t count on it until you see the trailer and perhaps not even then,” given the circumstances. It’s also unclear, as always, where the Cianci biopic fits into Russell’s schedule, which remains crowded with potential projects like a Russ Meyer biopic, that Fighter sequel Mark Wahlberg keeps insisting on, his recently acquired 1980s-set FBI sting story American Bullshit, and finally taking down the storm windows. But add this to the list of things to ask Russell about, to be answered only by the banging door of a suddenly empty editing bay.