Joy

In America, the ordinary needs the extraordinary every single day.
Joy (2015)
Timing: 2:4 (124 min)
6.7/10
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6.6/10
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6.6/10
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Release date
Country
Genre
Budget
$60 000 000
Box office
$101 134 059
Director
Scenario
Producer
John Davis, Jonathan Gordon, David O. Russell, Ken Mok, Megan Ellison, George Parra, Mary McLaglen, Annie Mumolo, Ethan Smith, Matthew Budman
Camera operator
Composer
David Campbell
Artist
Judy Becker, Carl Sprague, Jeffrey D. McDonald
Audition
Mary Vernieu, Lindsay Graham Ahanonu
Editing
Christopher Tellefsen, Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy
Whole Team (85)

Short description

A story based on the life of a struggling Long Island single mom who became one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs.

What's left behind the scenes

  • Joy Mangano invented the self-wringing Wonder Mop in 1990. Jennifer Lawrence, who played the role of Joy Mangano, was also born in the same year.
  • Filming took place in Boston, Massachusetts, and partially in Haverhill. In July 2015, Haverhill's business district was transformed into 1980s Dallas. Haverhill's concert hall served as the Dallas concert hall.
  • After finishing filming in the role of Mimi, Diane Ladd agreed to provide the voice-over narration.
  • The character of Peggy, Joy’s half-sister, is fictional. It was created by the director and one of the screenwriters, David O. Russell.
  • The extravagant Terry, Joy’s mother, played by Virginia Madsen, has little in common with her real-life counterpart. She is, rather, a composite character incorporating traits of some people from Joy Mangano’s circle.
  • Tony Miranne, Joy’s ex-husband, played by Edgar Ramirez, studied with her at university. In the film, he is portrayed as a singer from Venezuela.
  • This is the fourth collaboration between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. They have previously starred together in “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012), “American Hustle” (2013), and “Serena” (2014).
  • The script is based on the story of a real person, Joy Mangano. This American of Italian descent, an inventor with business acumen, gained fame for her miracle mops and hangers. Mangano is the president of the company “Ingenious Designs.” She regularly appears on the home shopping network “HSN.” A graduate of Pace University in New York, Mangano has patented over a hundred inventions.
  • Upon joining the project, director David O. Russell added secondary characters to the plot and combined Mangano’s story with the stories of other women who demonstrated remarkable courage and enterprise, fundamentally changing their lives. As a result, only the most general features of the real Mangano story remained in the film (her transformation from an ordinary woman forced to work to support her children into a successful entrepreneur). Thus, “Joy” cannot be considered a biography, despite initial assurances that it would be. Russell even admitted that during the film’s production, he constantly postponed meeting Joy Mangano precisely because he wanted to make the film his own way. He communicated with the prototype of the main character only by phone. Moreover, the name Joy is never mentioned in the film, and the film’s heroine, unlike Mangano, was not born in Smithtown on the north shore of Long Island, New York.
  • As shown in the film, Mangano sold over 18,000 miracle mops in the first hour on the “QVC” channel, proving she knew how to work with people.
  • In reality, Joy Mangano graduated from Pace University in 1978 with a degree in management. At the time of graduation, she worked as a waitress and then in the airline ticket pre-booking department.
  • According to the film, the ill-fated red wine brought onto the yacht, after which Joy invented the miracle mop, was “Mouton Rothschild” branded with “Andy Warhol.” In 2015, it was sold for around $400 a bottle.
  • "Joy" was the first film from Annapurna Pictures to receive a PG-13 rating (parental guidance suggested, some material may be inappropriate for children under 13) in the US, and a 12A rating (children under 12 must be accompanied by someone aged 18 or over) in the UK.
  • The film's working title was "The Baptism of Kay".
  • This is the second film by David O. Russell not to receive an R rating (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) after "Joy" (2015). The director disowned "Joy" amid creative disputes and financial scandals.
  • While Joy prepares for her appearance on QVC, the screen briefly shows makeup artists working on Lori Greiner, the “Queen of QVC,” an inventor and television personality.
  • This is the third film directed by David O. Russell to feature Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, and Jennifer Lawrence. They previously worked together on his films "Silver Linings Playbook" (2012) and "American Hustle" (2013).
  • Joy Mangano invented the self-wringing miracle mop in 1990. Jennifer Lawrence, who played the role of Joy Mangano, was also born in that same year.
  • This is the fourth collaboration between Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. They previously starred together in the films 'Silver Linings Playbook' (2012), 'American Hustle' (2013), and 'Serena' (2014).
  • Upon joining the project, director David O. Russell added supporting characters to the plot and merged Mangano's story with those of other women who showed remarkable courage and resourcefulness to fundamentally change their lives. As a result, only the broadest strokes of Mangano's real story remain in the film (her transformation from an ordinary woman forced to work to support her children into a successful entrepreneur). Thus, 'Joy' cannot be called a biopic, despite initial assurances that it would be exactly that. Russell even admitted that while working on the film, he constantly postponed meeting Joy Mangano specifically because of his desire to make the movie his own way. He only spoke with the protagonist's real-life counterpart over the phone. Furthermore, Joy's last name is never mentioned in the film, and unlike Mangano, the film's protagonist was not born in the town of Smithtown on the north shore of Long Island, New York.
  • After finishing filming her role as Mimi, Diane Ladd agreed to provide the voice-over narration as well.
  • The character of Peggy, Joy's half-sister, is fictional. She was created by the director and co-screenwriter David O. Russell.
  • The extravagant Terry, Joy's mother, played by Virginia Madsen, has little in common with her real-life counterpart. She is more of a composite character, incorporating traits of several people from Joy Mangano's inner circle.
  • Tony Miranna, Joy's ex-husband played by Edgar Ramírez, attended university with her. In the film, he is portrayed as a singer from Venezuela.
  • This is David O. Russell's first R-rated film (persons under 17 require accompanying parent or adult guardian) since 'Joy' (2015). The director disowned 'Joy' amidst creative disputes and financial scandals.
  • As Joy prepares for her broadcast on QVC, the screen shows makeup artists working their magic on the 'Queen of QVC,' Lori Greiner, an inventor and TV host.
  • This is the third David O. Russell film starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, and Jennifer Lawrence. They previously worked together in his films 'Silver Linings Playbook' (2012) and 'American Hustle' (2013).

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