Amsterdam, the new film from director David O. Russell, follows a group of three friends who witness and are framed for the murder of a U.S. senator in the 1930s.
More than anything, however, the film’s stars — Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington — tell ABC Audio that the movie is about friendship.
“First and foremost, we wanted to give people a damn good time and to show them the love of true friendship,” Bale says. “We wanted to create this triangle of friendship that David [O. Russell] and I said, ‘Oh my God, we wish we had that in our lives.’”
Robbie even went as far as to say that the film’s friendship triangle is what enticed her to the role.
“Throughout my life I’ve had a couple of trio friendships that have been hugely important and really shaped my life,” Robbie says. “It is the first thing that drew me to this when I started talking to David [O. Russell] about it. He said, ‘There’s these three friends, I don’t know if this resonates with you.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know if you realize how much that could resonate with me.’”
Washington said that in researching his role, he found much more meaning than he could have ever anticipated.
“The 369th Harlem Hellfighters were a group of gentlemen that I was unaware of,” Washington says. “Learning that kind of stuff was very intriguing, informative and something I’m gonna hold on to moving forward in my life.”
Bale also found deep meaning in his character.
“He refuses to become a broken man,” Bale says. “He remains optimistic, he remains joyous, he remains fun. He’s an inspiration to David [O. Russell] and myself, and he’s someone who I want to be friends with.”
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