The new trailer for Joy, in which Jennifer Lawrence plays the inventor of the Miracle Mop, reveals that David O Russell’s biopic will be less squeaky clean then we first thought.
Released today, the trailer makes the film look more mob drama than soap opera, as Joy Mangano, a single mum of three, wrestles family (Robert De Niro, playing her retrogressive dad), heartbreak and betrayal in a bid to build her empire.
Original screenwriter Annie Mumolo was swept away after Russell signed up as director. He’s now the listed screenwriter, while Mumolo gets a story credit. Russell, who is working with a familiar cast (it’s Lawrence’s third collaboration with him and there’s a role for another regular, Bradley Cooper, as a shopping channel host), said it’s a great opportunity for him and Lawrence to try something new. There’s echoes of The Godfather in some of the scenes in the trailer– not least in the final moments, in a long static shot of Joy telling a family member to keep her nose out of her business.
That said, there’s plenty here from the Russell playbook: big performances, unapologetically brash heroes, a restless camera and the odd run-in with the law. Joy is probably not a total reinvention, but this Miracle Mop biopic does look a bit tidy.
Joy is released on 25 December in the US and a week later in the UK. Russell has been nominated for best director at the Oscars for the last two years, but missed out. This might be the year he cleans up.
