When I first heard that David O. Russell was re-teaming with his SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK and AMERICAN HUSTLE star Jennifer Lawrence I was definitely curious. Now that I know it’s a biopic that revolves around housewife Joy Mangano, who skyrocketed to success after her Miracle Mop invention took off on the home shopping network, they certainly have my attention. It sounds like such a departure for the two that you can’t help but wonder what they’re going to bring to the screen with his one.
With the success of Playbook which landed Lawrence her first Oscar and the ten nominations for Hustle, these two talents can pretty much make whatever kind of movie they want; and it sounds like they’re about to do just that with JOY. The cast might also include other Playbook and Hustle stars Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro; we can’t have too much unfamiliarity now can we? Lawrence will play Joy Mangano of course and Robert De Niro is in line to play her father and Cooper’s character in an unknown role.
Russell talked about his vision in an interview with The Playlist and touched on why this might be an unexpected movie for audiences and its cast he says:
"It’s set and the ‘80s and ‘90s, but I’m going to take a different approach musically than I’ve ever taken before…I aspire to make an unexpected movie, both for myself and for Jennifer. It’s about a woman… what’s inside her. If you go inside someone, it’s another story. If you go inside her and the people around her, and if you go into a different key of storytelling that feels… It’s a departure. It’s taking risks that we haven’t taken before. This is going to be a very intense emotional and existential look at a woman’s heart and soul as she becomes powerful."
I would certainly like to hear more about his approach musically, I’m always sucker for a good musical moment. Certainly though the idea that he’s trying something different again after hits like THE FIGHTER, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, and AMERICAN HUSTLE tells me he’s not just playing it safe and doing what’s expected with some conventional work. I look forward to hearing more about this project over the next year.
JOY will sweep into theaters on December 25th, 2015.