Joy director explains how personal connection made film a "profound" experience
The Netflix movie stars Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton and tells the story of the development of IVF.
The true story told in the new movie Joy, which shines a light on the pioneering scientists behind the development of IVF, is an undoubtedly important one.
The film focuses on the work done by Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy during the 1960s and 1970s, as they fight back against opposition from the Church, the media and even other scientists to make IVF possible.
And for director Ben Taylor, and writers Jack Thorne and Rachel Mason, the film was a doubly significant project – given they'd all gone through the IVF procedure themselves in order to have children.
"I think reading the script was immediately profound and scary," Taylor explained in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com.
"Because the scary thing was the thought of not getting to work on it... like, it's rare that you'll read something that so connects with you."
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He added: "And this was... yeah, it was hugely personal, hugely relevant. And just everything in the fibre of my being was wanting to work on this, on this film, and then getting to do it, you were surrounded every day by just amazing scenes, amazing actors, amazing content.
"[And] even though it was set 45 years before we went through the procedure, it's all very similar to how it is now."
Read more:
- Joy star Bill Nighy hopes film fixes "bewildering" lack of recognition for Jean Purdy
- Jack Thorne and Rachel Mason on Netflix's Joy and the "dark" and "isolating" journey of fertility struggles
The stars of the film said that the care Taylor had for the subject matter was very evident, with Bill Nighy – who plays Steptoe – explaining that the personal aspect "certainly contributed to the whole atmosphere".
He added: "And indeed, the producer, Amanda Posey, also has an IVF family. It kind of informed the whole thing. I don't know that they all got together as IVF parents, and thought, 'Hey, let's make a film.' But that's how it turned out. [And] it did, yeah, it gave it that extra bit of resonance."
Meanwhile, Thomasin McKenzie, who plays Purdy, said that the whole experience was "incredibly moving".
She explained: "When I first read the script, it was like you could just tell that the people who'd written it, the people who were making it, had personal experience with IVF themselves, and that made me, when I got the role, it made me want to do the role [of] Jean Purdy justice.
"But also just the... you know, for everyone who's been through IVF, or knows someone who has, or has been born of IVF or whatever, to do that topic justice as well.
"Because it's... you know, more than 12 million babies have been born of IVF. It's affected so many people. So, yeah, it was really, really moving."
Joy is now showing in select UK cinemas and will be released on Netflix on Friday 22nd November 2024 – sign up from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
