For what seems like an eternity, there has been a great deal of buzz surrounding David O. Russell’s Amsterdam, the one-time mystery project from the Oscar-nominated filmmaker that features a stacked ensemble. And although the movie, its story, and even production were all shrouded in mystery for the past couple of years, we finally know what is going on with Russell's first theatrical release since Joy in 2015 – which concluded one of the greatest five-year stretches from any single filmmaker in modern Hollywood history.
With a release date, information on the cast, and details on what the highly anticipated movie will be about, there’s actually quite a bit we know about what will surely be one of the frontrunners at the 2023 Academy Awards. Let’s dive in and take a look at everything we know about Amsterdam so far.
Amsterdam Will Be Released Theatrically On November 4, 2022
For the longest time there was little to no information about David O. Russell’s latest movie, and while CinemaCon 2022 changed things in a major way when when 20th Century Studios revealed a great deal of information about Amsterdam, one thing we did know beforehand was the film's release date. It was announced in the fall of 2021 by the studio that a "Untitled David O. Russell Project" would be coming out on November 4, 2022. This will have the star-studded affair landing at the beginning of the awards season and just one week before the upcoming Marvel movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters.
Christian Bale, Margot Robbie And John David Washington Lead The All-Star Amsterdam Cast
David O. Russell has always been able to pull together incredibly talented Hollywood stars for his various film projects, with American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook being two of the best examples of this. That trend will continue with Amsterdam, which will be lead by Academy Award-winner Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington (the latter two don't have Oscars yet, but both have earned multiple award nominations in the past decade).
20th Century Studios has yet to reveal the exact names of the characters the three Hollywood heavyweights will play in Amsterdam, but at CinemaCon 2022 the studio did reveal the movie will center around three close friends played by the stars.
The Amsterdam Cast Also Includes Taylor Swift, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek, And More
The three top-billed stars at the top of the Amsterdam cast aren’t the only big names to be featured in David O. Russell’s first movie in seven years. Appearing alongside Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington in the upcoming crime epic will be Taylor Swift, Robert De Niro (who appeared in Russell’s previous three films), Rami Malek, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldana, Timothy Olyphant, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Matthias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, and Alessandro Nivola.
Just like the situation with the main stars, none of the identities of the characters the supporting actors will be playing have been revealed at this time. This will probably change, however, when the first official trailer arrives online.
Amsterdam Tells The Story Of Three Friends Caught In A Mysterious Crime Plot In Early 20th Century Europe
David O. Russell knows a thing or two about making high-stakes crime movies with a comedic tone, as seen with movies like American Hustle and Three Kings, and Amsterdam sounds like Russell will be returning to that well. During the CinemaCon 2022 presentation where much of the details about the upcoming movie were finally revealed, it was revealed that Amsterdam will follow three close friends — a doctor, a nurse, and an attorney — as they get caught up in some kind of mysterious crime plot in early 20th Century Europe (per Deadline).
The exact kind of criminal plot the core trio will find themselves in during the movie remains a mystery for now, but 20th Century Studios did promise in the big reveal that the characters will find themselves at the center of one of the most shocking secret plots in American history and that the movie is based on facts that meet fiction.
In Addition To Directing Amsterdam, David O. Russell Also Wrote The Screenplay
Not only did David O. Russell sit in the director’s chair for Amsterdam, the filmmaker also wrote the script for the upcoming crime epic, which has been the case for all but one of his past feature films (he only directed The Fighter, while Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Scott Silver penned the script). This was first confirmed back in January 2020 when Deadline revealed that Russell would both write and direct the movie that would see him work with Christian Bale for the first time since American Hustle back in 2013.
With Russell handing both writing and directing duties, there’s a chance the filmmaker could win his first Oscar in both categories at the 95th Academy Awards in early 2023 as well as other awards shows preceding the grand Hollywood affair.
Production On Amsterdam Was Shrouded In Mystery With The Name Not Being Officially Announced Until CinemaCon 2022
Up until the the big reveal at CinemaCon 2022, not a lot of details were released about Amsterdam. In fact, the film’s official title wasn’t even officially announced until the April 2022 event, though its name had been rumored for a couple of years now. And even though filming was underway in early 2021, per Deadline, there was a level of mystery surrounding the production – one that Anya Taylor-Joy described as being “very secretive” even to the members of the cast when speaking with Vanity Fair in March 2021.
That level of mystery has only continued to shroud the movie in the months since, and chances are it will until Amsterdam is finally released into the wild come November. And honestly, that makes the whole matter all the more interesting.
There is a lot we do know about Amsterdam at this point, but we expect to find out more as the months go on and we get closer to the release date. In the meantime, check out all the other exciting 2022 movie releases that are slated to open in theaters and on streaming services before year’s end.
