Her Gone Life

Based loosely on the life of inventor and home shopping star Joy Mangano, 20th Century Fox's film JOY opens in theaters on December 25, 2015 and follows the path of a hard-working but half-broken family and the young girl who ultimately becomes its shining matriarch and leader in her own right.

Please Note: I was invited as media to the movie screening and cast interview. Any views expressed are always 100% my own.

Ironically part of the influences affecting Joy's life is the soap operas her mothers watches every day for years as Joy grows up handling issues within the home and life.

Starring in the remakes of these soap operas are real life soap stars including Susan Lucci, Donna Mills, Laura Wright, Maurice Benard and David O. Russell.

Since the soap operas are their own characters within the JOY film, I was excited to join a group interview Laura Wright and Donna Mills to talk more about their roles within the movie and how they feel soap opera can inspire modern women.

Onica {TheSocialGurl}:: You mentioned that there was a wardrobe on set for all the time periods. Can each of you share which time period or which wardrobe you were excited to wear or that you found to be your favorite while acting during that time period scene?


Donna Mills: I definitely loved the ‘80s, come on. Give me those shoulder pads. The ‘80s look. I love the shoulder pads. I loved them then. I love them now. I love the big hair. It was just fun. Now it seems over the top. Then, it was perfect, that was the way we dressed, and it was a strong period for women. And I liked that. That was fun, so that was favorite, doing the ‘80s.


Laura Wright: I agree. I thought the ‘80s was a really fun, it was super fun with the jewelry and big hair. So fun going back and doing that and the hair. Then when I was watching Dynasty, I was younger. I was pretty stoked.

I had a really great time with everyone. I have my pictures in front of me, and then, Donna had her picture in front of her. And Susan had like a picture, and it was pretty funny. Every day we were in the makeup chairs comparing stuff.

Onica {TheSocialGurl}: Part of the movie are the soap operas, and watching the series throughout the years, which was such an important factor in the movie and in a way inspired Joy and her journey. How do you think soaps have inspired or empowered women throughout the years and even in our modern times?


Laura Wright: When you look at the ‘60s, many women were stay-at-home moms. So the soap opera's were commercials, daytime shows and an escape. But I think the shows evolved because women in real life evolved as well.

And so, you have very strong characters in and on daytime television. You have working moms on daytime television. It’s still an escape with beautiful clothes and the hair and the makeup, but becoming, as best as we can, a more reality-based story and we do touch around social issues. I think that women can really relate to it as well as use it as an escape.


Donna Mills: Yes. I must say the character that I played on General Hospital I wouldn’t want to think was a role model, but actually on Knots Landing, which was a nighttime soap, Abby, although she was a naughty girl and all that, I think she was inspirational to women because she always got her way.

She figured out a way to get what she wanted, but she wasn’t evil. She never killed anybody or did anything bad like that. She was a good mother, so I think that--I think women were inspired by her. At least, that was what the mail and feedback that I received from the public said. That they really wanted to be like her.

Truly these women in soap operas and real life are an inspiration to many women. Thanks 20th Century Fox, Donna Mills and Laura Wright for the interview.


20th Century Fox released a series of Joyful Storm promotional videos along with a mock Soap Opera Digest cover to celebrate the unique soap opera integration in the upcoming film, Joy.

About The Joyful Storm "Weakness" Clip:




Featuring beloved soap stars Susan Lucci, Donna Mills, Laura Wright, and Maurice Benard, David O. Russell has gathered together a special cast of soap opera alumni to play unique roles in much-anticipated Joy. Read more on SoapOperaDigest.com




About JOY:

JOY is the wild story of a family across four generations centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right.

Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the road in this intense emotional and human comedy about becoming a true boss of family and enterprise facing a world of unforgiving commerce. Allies become adversaries and adversaries become allies, both inside and outside the family, as Joy’s inner life and fierce imagination carry her through the storm she faces.

Jennifer Lawrence stars, with Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Elisabeth Röhm and Dascha Polanco.

Like David O. Russell’s previous films, Joy defies genre to tell a story of family, loyalty, and love.

To connect with JOY online, visit: www.fox.co/JoySite

Facebook: www.fox.co/JoyFBTwitter: www.fox.co/JoyTwitter
Instagram: www.fox.co/JoyInstagram