Starting with 2010’s The Fighter, filmmaker David O. Russell began kind of remaking himself as a director.  While his previous films like I Heart Huckabees, Three Kings, and Spanking the Monkey were odd and irreverent, The Fighter marked the beginning of more mainstream material from the director, and was followed by the awards friendly Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.  However, Russell shot an unreleased film before The Fighter, one that sounds like it might be the last “old Russell” picture that he ever made.  The health care satire Nailed starred Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal and revolved around three people with serious health issues that stormed Washington D.C. to demand treatment, including a woman with a nail stuck in her head.

The production of Nailed was contentious on account of the financier.  It was shut down a whopping 14 times, but Russell was able to shoot all but one scene—the crucial one in which Biel gets the nail in her head.  Russell never got the chance to shoot the scene or edit the film at all, and eventually abandoned it altogether in 2010.  But now, it appears that the film will see the light of day after all as a Nailed release date has been set for 2015 in the UK.  More after the jump.   

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Image via The Weinstein Company

Screen Daily reports that Arrow Films has picked up Nailed and retitled it Politics of Love, with the intention of releasing it sometime next year in the UK.  Voltage Pictures is screening footage today at the American Film Market to potential buyers, so it’s possible that the film could even land a domestic distributor, but the question is how much of this film is actually David O. Russell’s.

We previously learned that producer Kia Jam was keen on finishing the film and getting it into theaters, but Jam’s cut would be assembled without any input from Russell—you know, the director.  When producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher previously told us the insane story of the production and subsequent shelving, they explained how crucial Russell’s input would be to the post-production process:

“Particularly in this kind of comedy that’s finding a specific tone, the post-production is sort of a third of the whole process.  So I think there was just a little bit of a sense from a financier point of view, ‘Well just glue it together and put it out, we’ll just skip that process who needs it? It’s just indulging creative people.’  Obviously post is a huge part of the process and so many movies come alive in post.”

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Image via Columbia Pictures

While I’ve been curious about Nailed for some time—especially given Russell’s new creative direction as of late—it disappointing to see that a cut of the film may be released that is very far removed from the director’s vision.  I’ll be very curious to see what happens next, from a legal standpoint, if someone tries to release the picture in the US.  For now, Russell is prepping his next directorial effort, a film called Joy about the woman who created the Miracle Mop.  Jennifer Lawrence is set to star, obviously.

Check out the new synopsis for Politicis of Love below, via Screen Daily.

Formerly known as Nailed (David O. Russell), Politics Of Love tells the story of a small town waitress (Biel), who accidentally gets a nail lodged in her head as her boyfriend (Marsden) attempts his marriage proposal. Her predicament leads her on a journey to Washington DC, where she meets a dashing but clueless congressman (Gyllenhaal), who might be able to help her unusual case.

Will their blossoming romance survive the cut-throat politics of the Capital? With an all-star cast that also includes Catherine Keener, Tracy Morgan, James Brolin and Paul ReubensPolitics Of Love is the funny story of what happens when sparks fly and love interferes with what you stand for.