Melissa Rivers Plays Joan Rivers Alongside Jennifer Lawrence In Exclusive ‘Joy’ Clip
No one was more devastated over the September 2014 passing of Joan Rivers than her daughter, Melissa Rivers. And now, Melissa is set to honor her late mother in a most uniquely Hollywood way—by playing her on the silver screen.
In the upcoming film Joy, which stars Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano, American entrepreneur and inventor of the Miracle Mop, Melissa appears as the late comedian in a scene where Joy runs into Joan at the QVC studios in the early 90s. And, as seen in the clip below, the appearance is incredibly uncanny, even if the voice is a little off:
There's a reason for the voice not being quite "Joan" enough though, as Melissa explained to Entertainment Tonight in an exclusive interview, saying, "I worked hard on her speech pattern, but not so much the accent because I didn't want it to be an imitation or a caricature."
The television host, producer, and actress also revealed how the casting came about, sharing, "My agent received a phone call, saying, 'David O. Russell wants to meet Melissa.' It was all very hush hush and top secret, and I went, 'Okay.'"
Despite signing on, Melissa shared that the role ended up weighing more heavily on her emotions than she had anticipated, explaining, "I can't watch myself, and especially like that. I think I was so focused on the details and trying to do a good job that it never hit me that I took this crazy emotional risk until I got home and went, 'What did I just do?'"
Luckily, the cast and crew were "lovely and supportive" to Melissa, who added that she was even able to connect with Jen over her mother's legendary comedy bits: "Jen and I talked for a few minutes and she actually quoted back a couple of her favorite jokes of my mom's to me."
Something tells us Joan would be proud of her girl.
Joy is out in theaters on Friday, December 25.
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