A few months back, we shared the news that Orange is the New Black’s Dascha Polanco would be appearing alongside Jennifer Lawrence in Hollywood auteur David O. Russell’s latest mop-inspired feature, Joy. While we were rightfully ecstatic at the news that Polanco was finally flirting with the Hollywood A-List, the big question was what the hell had inspired the director behind Three Kings and American Hustle to make a biopic about the inventor of a mop. And frankly, it’s still not entirely clear, but we do have a trailer which gives us a two-minute glimpse into how it all might work.
The feature is loosely based on the life of a Long Island single mother named Joy Mangano who invented an unassuming domestic item called the Miracle Mop that quickly made its way into just about every home in the continental United States, thanks to a cosign from HSN. Following up with handful of other home shopping-worthy creations, Mangano soon sat atop an empire of domestic doo-dads with multi-million dollar dividends. In addition to Polanco’s role as Mangano’s real-life friend and business partner, Jackie, we are pleased to learn that polyglot Venezuelan heartthrob Edgar Ramírez also has a prominent role as Mangano’s ex-husband, Tony Miranne.
The trailer suggests that Russell wasn’t too concerned with the politics of mop-making, or the dramatic twists and turns of live-broadcast home shopping television, but rather with a character study of a strong woman making her way in a male-dominated society despite her antagonistic family. Russell’s own well-documented family dysfunction might have brought some autobiographical resonance to this project, but speculation aside, we can undoubtedly look forward to the strong performances and confident visual style that have characterized the director’s career to date.
Joy opens in theaters nationwide on December 25, 2015.