Writer Annie Mumolo said she was heartbroken when David O. Russell rewrote the script for Joy. Fox and producer John Davis hired Mumolo to adapt the inspiring life story of Miracle Mop creator Joy Mangano for the big screen in 2012, but Joy director David O. Russell ultimately changed and fictionalized the script. The 2015 film was met with mediocre critical reception and was largely ignored by the Oscars (save a Best Actress nomination for star Jennifer Lawrence) despite being named an early contender.
Mumolo - who shared a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for Bridesmaids with frequent collaborator Kristen Wiig in 2012 - received a meager "story by" credit for Joy while Russell was credited as the sole screenwriter. It's not the first time Russell has made drastic changes to a script or been involved in a battle for screenwriting credits. Russell transformed John Ridley's original Spoils of War script into 1999's Three Kings and also significantly altered Eric Warren Singer's American Hustle screenplay. Mumolo remained quiet about Joy's behind-the-scenes screenplay conflict following the film's release.
But Mumolo spoke publicly about the situation for the first time in a recent interview with Variety while promoting her upcoming comedy flick Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. She called her Joy experience "tremendously scary and a life lesson" that she wasn't prepared for at the time. After receiving a call regarding changes to the Joy script, Mumolo said she was asked to sacrifice her morals and was harshly criticized for refusing to do things she wasn't comfortable with. Check out Mumolo's full quote below:
“The ‘Joy’ movie was a very heartbreaking experience for me, and I had to just sort of separate because of that aspect of things. When it was going in one direction, we got a phone call overnight that there’s a change happening. And then I was asked to do things that were against my morality, and it was very difficult. When I didn’t feel comfortable doing those things that were against my values, I was lambasted. I can’t say too much. I guess probably because I was living in fear. It’s sort of a testament to the power of how in show business, people have a tremendous amount of power and what they can do with it and how they wield that power. Sometimes, the people who have so much power are people who shouldn’t, and in the normal world, they wouldn’t have that much power they’re being given. Judd Apatow told me, ‘Certain names, if they are studios, if it’s money and numbers, they don’t care what the behavior is. They just don’t.’ And he said that’s a hard thing. He was a very big advocate for me back then. It was tremendously scary and a life lesson. It was a lot of upheavals, and it was just very strange. It’s something I never saw coming.”
Considering Joy's lukewarm reception from critics and moviegoers alike, it's hard not to speculate about whether Mumolo's script would've actually made for a better film. Joy is a story about a strong, influential woman and self-made millionaire, and it would've been great for Mumolo, a successful writer and actress, to have had the opportunity to tell Joy Mangano's story. Not to mention the fact that Joy was only recognized by the Oscars in an acting category despite its Oscar-bait formula, which suggests Russell's script was not the film's strong suit.
The good news is Mumolo is doing perfectly fine in spite of the Joy screenplay debacle. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar could very well rival the success of Bridesmaids, although that's probably not Wiig and Mumolo's singular goal for the upcoming flick. Regardless of the film's reception, co-writers/co-stars Mumolo and Wiig were able to tell the story exactly how they intended, which is a victory in and of itself.
Source: Variety