Empress of Something

Talk about the relationship between him and Jennifer Lawrence. She modeled herself on the real Joy, correct?

She’s so gifted that even every take in dailies, she never missed it. It’s amazing to see someone immerse herself in the character so much, and David will say that she’s the one who comes in from left field and takes over the whole movie. This was the first time she had this kind of film hanging completely on her. It was every single day, long days, and, in certain scenes — like when she was playing the youngest one, in the hallway with Édgar Ramirez’s character, as a teenager — she was really sick, and she came into work. It reduces you to a child, when you’re not feeling well, so it actually played to the essence of the scene, that she was playing someone much younger than she actually is. I do think they have that kind of close relationship where they can just bounce things off each other, and he knows how to inspire her and she knows to push the limit. There have been filmmakers like that who are really special. If you look back over history and at the great collaborations, it’s exciting to see that they have that together.

He says this is the first time he’s worked with a central character who isn’t crazy. I really identified with her. Did you?

I can tell you: there are totally moments where I just love watching her. One thing that’s so telling about her character — and it plays back to the scene where Mia Walker is talking about using your hands to sell things — like, when the little boy’s sick and you just see the bed, she takes her hands and goes like this. There are so many moments where I see Joy expressing herself with her hands, either worrying or demonstrating things. She drew me in with her hands, in a way.

I guess a lot of women can identify with how so many women take care of other people and don’t pursue [their] dreams. She doesn’t roll over. [S]he stands up for herself. There are many truths to what happened with that family, and she did become the godmother of the family — someone who took charge and didn’t say no. She didn’t let people kick her around, and that’s true. That’s the quiet strength that I think Jennifer brings to her role that’s so powerful: to see someone go from banging their head on a car steering wheel to “I can’t and I won’t accept that answer” is a big move.