‘Witches of East End's Virginia Madsen Joins Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russel's ‘Joy’

Virginia Madsen, 53, who played the main villain in season 1 of Witches of East End has just joined the cast of 20th Century Fox's biopic drama Joy which is scheduled for release on December 25 according to We Got This Covered.

Madsen is also best remembered for her role as Helen Lyle in the 1992 horror-cult film Candyman and for her critically acclaimed performance as Maya in the 2004 comedy-drama Sideways, which catapulted her to Hollywood's A-list and for which she received nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She recently wrapped filming on Walter with Milo Ventimiglia and William H. Macy. As observed by We Got This Covered, Joy is Madsen's most high-profile role in a long while.

Joy is being directed by David O. Russell from a screenplay he re-wrote based on an original script by Annie Mumolo. Jennifer Lawrence stars in the title role. Also confirmed in the cast are Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Edgar Ramirez, Diane Ladd and Isabella Crovetti-Cramp. Filming has reportedly already been ongoing.

Joy is the story of Joy Mangano, who back in the 1990s was just a Long Island single mom with three young kids to support, struggling to make ends meet. Today, she is CEO of Ingenious Designs, a multimillion-dollar company she built while becoming a household name on the Home Shopping Network. Joy is the inventor of the best-selling self-wringing Miracle Mop, as well as the Oprah-Winfrey- endorsed velvety-flocked no-slip Huggable Hangers, the home odor neutralizing Forever Fragrant which won the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, the Clothes It All Luggage System, the Performance Platforms shoes, and several more.

Joy, the movie, will delve into Joy Mangano's Miracle Mop story. According to 20th Century Fox's plot teaser, it "is the emotionally compelling and often comedic journey of a woman who triumphed over personal and financial challenges by inventing the "Miracle Mop," which she sold on QVC and went on to become a hugely successful entrepreneur." The mop did changed everything for Joy. In an interview with The New York Times, she said: "Some people thought I was crazy to try and mass-market it. They said, 'A mop is a mop is a mop.' But I knew that wasn't the case. There was nothing like this out there. I thought the whole mop industry was being overlooked. The Miracle Mop created an entirely new category of stick goods -- the twist mop. And when I demonstrated it for people, they'd invariably say, 'I have to have that.'"