Bob Story

Joy Bryant leaps to her feet and hugs me when I walk in the room. No, it’s not because I’m just that adorable, but having sat in the same room for most of the day while journalists come to question her (and swoon), she’s delighted to see someone with a pack of cigarettes on their person.

“I know, it’s disgusting,” she says, while taking a drag that visibly travels all the way down to her toes. (She’s right, kids. It is vile though tingly.)
Within minutes I wonder if I would have been hugged anyway. Bright, giggly and pretty enough to make Scarlett Johansson wear a bag on her head for fear of unfavourable comparison, Joy Bryant is one lovely and terrifically excited interviewee. The reason she’s all aflutter is her role in Bobby, the new film written and directed by former brat pack actor Emilio Estevez.
An ambitious daisy-chain piece, Bobby is set at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 4, 1968, the day Robert Kennedy won California’s Democratic primary. Shortly after midnight as the presidential hopeful made his way from the ballroom through the hotel kitchens he was fatally wounded. Those seeking to expand their Kennedy conspiracy theories may be disappointed to learn that Bobby himself exists only at the margins of the film in speeches and archive footage. Instead Bobby uses that day to capture a feeling of collective hope by providing a fictionalised account of the people at the hotel that day.
“It’s really about the death of hope,” says Joy. “They were romantic, idealistic times with the prospect of real leadership. Look around and ask where the leaders have gone? I mean, there’s Condeleeza. She’s strong but I don’t think you want what she’s selling.”
Impressively,the film stars just about everyone you can think of. Freddy Rodriguez is the young firebrand kitchen hand who fights with the older wiser black cook (Laurence Fishburne in Matrix mood) about what to do with their racist boss (Christian Slater). Martin Sheen and Helen Hunt are a middle-aged couple having difficulty over shoes. Aston Kutcher is the drug dealer in situ. Demi Moore is a drunken diva. Lindsay Lohan is marrying Elijah Wood to save him from the draft. Anthony Hopkins sits around playing chess. Sharon Stone is a hairdresser who looks as though she may be related to Vera Duckworth. William H. Macy plays her errant husband.
“It was the most phenomenal experience.” Joy tells me. “You showed up on set and never knew whether to get to work or ask for autographs. I’d get in a queue for lunch and go ‘Oh my God,it’s Demi Moore and she’s using a fork just like I do. Who knew?’”
When you see Joy Bryant up close, it’s hard to imagine how she wouldn’t be a movie star, yet she’s had quite the time of it getting there. Born in the Bronx to a teenage mother on welfare and raised by her grandmother, as a girl Joy was enrolled in an inner-city outreach organization called A Better Chance, designed to encourage minority talent. An exceptional student, she was awarded a full academic scholarship to Yale where she was discovered by a modelling scout.
“My grandmother raised me not to care about looks,” she says. “But when I was offered the chance to go to Paris and work for Tommy Hilfiger, I decided I had to take it. I knew that scholarship to Yale could be put to better use by offering it to someone who didn’t have the opportunity I did.”
Sure enough, she made a splash as a Victoria’s Secret model and in a role alongside Beyonce in MTV’s Carmen – A Hip-Hopera. Her big break however, would come when Denzel Washington cast her in his directorial debut Antwone Fisher.
“I actually hung up on his when he called,” she laughs. “Denzel Washington? Who is this really? His producer had to call me back.” Since then she’s co-starred with Jessica Alba in Honey, appeared in Mario Van Peebles’ How to Get the Man’s Foot Outta Your Ass and essayed 50 Cent’s love interest in Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. (“Oh my God, Jim Sheridan is just one of the best director’s in the world,” she cries.)
Rather sweetly, at 31, she remains actively involved in the Better Chance programme that got her started. “I’m lucky and I won’t forget it,” she says. “But you know everyone has obstacles and everyone experiences pain. The question is, do you use it as an impetus or do you let it drag you down? There’s only one smart option available.”