“I AM a performer. When I am on stage, it is the only time I am truly happy.” — Joan Rivers
JOAN RIVERS – A PIECE OF WORK A Film by RICKI STERN & ANNIE SUNDBERG
FILM FESTIVALS & AWARDS
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2010 / WINNER – U.S. DOCUMENTARY EDITING AWARD
TRUE/FALSE FILM FESTIVAL 2010
http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/joan-rivers-a-piece-of-work
http://www.facebook.com/jr?ref=ts
JOAN RIVERS – A PIECE OF WORK takes the audience on a year long ride with Joan Rivers in her 76th year of life; it peels away the mask of an iconic comedian, laying bare both the struggle and thrill of living life as a groundbreaking female performer.
Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg (THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK, THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT) expose the private dramas of this irreverent, legendary comedian as she fights to keep her career thriving in a business driven by youth and beauty.
ABOUT JOAN RIVERS
JOAN RIVERS is a force of nature and one of the hardest-working celebrities in the world. An entertainment legend of unparalleled accomplishment and talent, she’s an internationally renowned comedienne, Tony-nominated actress, best-selling author, Emmy Award-winning television talk show host, playwright, screenwriter, motion picture director, columnist, lecturer, syndicated radio host, jewelry designer and cosmetic company entrepreneur, red carpet fashion laureate, businesswoman — and most importantly, a proud mother and grandmother.
Joan has enjoyed an illustrious career spanning more than four decades in the entertainment industry and beyond, and as her recent accomplishments reveal, she’s as robust and hard-working as ever. In 2009, she starred in NBC’s hit reality series THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE with her daughter Melissa, emerging as the Season Two winner.
She also celebrated the publication of two critically acclaimed, best-selling books: Men Are Stupid and They Like Big Boobs: A Woman’s Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery and Murder at the Academy Awards: A Red Carpet Murder Mystery, both published by Simon & Schuster.
She received a Daytime Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Bubbe in PBS’ award-winning animated children’s series ARTHUR, gave life to the character, Dot Matrix in the animated series, SPACEBALLS, played an eccentric aunt in two seasons of IFC’s popular mockumentary series Z ROCK, and wowed audiences at The Underbelly in London with her comedy show UNPLUGGED AND UNCESORED.
In August 2009, the iconic funny woman was roasted, toasted, and honored in THE COMEDY CENTRAL ROAST OF JOAN RIVERS, marking the highly-anticipated debut of her new TV Land reality series, HOW’D YOU GET SO RICH? a candid look at the extravagant lifestyles of fabulously rich entrepreneurs and innovators.
Joan Rivers is a true pioneer: she created her own brand of irreverent, unconventional comedy and forged her remarkable rise to stardom in the entertainment world. Enduring humiliation and deprivation for nearly a decade playing tawdry clubs, Borscht Belt hotels, and Greenwich Village cabarets (“I was insanely persistent,” she says.), her career skyrocketed in 1968 when she appeared on THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON.
Within three years she was hosting THAT SHOW WITH JOAN RIVERS, one of the first syndicated daytime shows. She soon made television history as the first sole guest host of THE TONIGHT SHOW. Her own THE LATE SHOW STARRING JOAN RIVERS helped launch the Fox Network in 1986. In 1989, she returned to daytime television with THE JOAN RIVERS SHOW, winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Joan’s unique gifts of humor, compassion, and tenacity have enabled her to triumph over personal tragedy and attain extraordinary professional success. In 1990, she launched the Joan Rivers Classics Collection of fashion jewelry on QVC.
The collection became an instant bestseller, and Joan was honored with an ACE Award from the Accessories Council in 1997. The collection continues to be enormously successful, earning a record-breaking 750 million dollars plus in sales to date.
A pre-eminent connoisseur of fine art, antiques, and vintage jewelry, Joan keeps her finger on the pulse of all the latest trends and is widely considered America’s most visible, accessible, and authoritative fashion spokesperson.
Her firm belief that when women look their best they can be their best was the inspiration for Joan Rivers Beauty, a continually expanding line of products that was launched on QVC in 2000. It encompasses Absolutely Magic skincare, color cosmetics, and her signature fragrance, Now & Forever.
One of the most naturally style-savvy women on the planet, Joan consistently appears on Best Dressed lists around the world. Along with her daughter Melissa, she hosted E!’s red-carpet events from 1996-2004.
From 2004-2007, they continued their “must-see” red-carpet coverage of the Emmys and other awards ceremonies for the TV Guide Channel, garnering the highest ratings ever for the channel.
While continuing to headline at prestigious concert venues worldwide, Joan is always working on new projects. In April 2002, she brought her critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival one-woman show, BROKE AND ALONE, to London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, where she received rave reviews and the theatre’s first standing ovation in fourteen years.
The show enjoyed equally enthusiastic critical and audience response at the State Theatres in Sydney and Melbourne. Subsequent performances, including two one-week runs at the Canon Theatre in Los Angeles, all garnered “hottest ticket in town” status.
Constantly in motion, Joan knows first-hand the importance of healthy bones in helping us all live the life we want and deserve. In 2004, she reached out to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) with a passion and purpose to get the word out about osteoporosis, a disease that affects one in two women over fifty.
As NOF Ambassador, she took this message to Capitol Hill in 2005, working with the Surgeon General and Congressional leaders to generate support, increased awareness, and national action to prevent this disease. Honored by NOF in 2005 with its first-ever Innovation Award, Joan continues to lend her energy and creativity to this important mission, encouraging people everywhere to be aware of osteoporosis and bone health.
By 2003, Joan was once again dazzling audiences as a headliner in Las Vegas. In October of 2004, she returned to the U.K. for her first national concert tour. The Glasgow International Comedy Festival followed in March of 2005, but the U.K. was clamoring for more, so she returned to England for her second major tour in two years. In the spring of 2006, the greatly sought-after comedienne returned to Australia for sold-out shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra.
In August 2007, Joan launched THE JOAN RIVERS THEATRE PROJECT, a play-in-progress workshop, which she co-wrote and starred in, for a limited engagement at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Six months later, the show opened to rave reviews at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles as “Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress,” enjoying sold out performances for its entire six-week run. This was followed by a sold out run at the Edinburgh, preceding a successful 3 week run at London’s Leicester Square theatre.
From her signature question “Can we talk?” (a Federal trademark) to her red-carpet mantra “Who are you wearing?”, the woman who asks the questions gets the answers America — and the world — wants to hear.
Joan Rivers embodies class, confidence, and chutzpah in all the right proportions, and her accomplishments are extraordinary. Her most joyous triumph is being grandmother to Melissa’s son, Cooper (Edgar Cooper Endicott), who was born on December 1, 2000.
