Injection molding shares top billing with Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Joy'

When the movie Joy came to the big screen on Christmas Day, it featured star actor Jennifer Lawrence. But the set where the filming took place was a recreated injection molding plant. In April of last year, director David O. Russell and the 20th Century Fox production crew needed to reproduce an injection molding facility for the film, which told the story of Joy Mangano, the American inventor and entrepreneur known for the Miracle Mop and other ingenious household items sold via home shopping networks.

To create the movie set, Steve Murdoch, Sales Manager at Absolute Machinery Corp. (Worcester, MA), and the Absolute team provided the production staff with everything it needed, including transportation and rigging on the set, to reproduce a working injection molding manufacturing facility, complete with operating machines, auxiliaries, typical office equipment, shelving, cabinets—everything that one would see in a molding facility, including team members from Absolute Machinery. Technician Joe Hopper and Technical Manager Stuart McCarthy worked on the set as extras for five days to make sure everything ran smoothly.

"We learned that when film crews need set pieces they need them quickly," said Absolute Machinery's Nathan Smith. "We were able to provide 20th Century Fox with five molding machines, two of which were horizontal and three vertical, in just a few days. We loaded up trucks full of used auxiliary equipment including mold temperature controllers, molds, material and typical manufacturing ancillaries from our stock and headed over to Wilmington, MA, where the shoot was taking place. Although we weren't sure if they would be seen making parts, we had to make sure the used equipment was able to run in order to give the director the option to do so."

Smith added that it was a challenge that the company has been able to deliver on in the past when customers have asked Absolute Machinery to set up entire factories and turnkey operations for companies in North America and globally.

Jennifer Lawrence was on the set filming at the location and the two representatives from Absolute Machinery watched her work up close. They had the opportunity to see an award-winning performance in action, as Lawrence recently won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a comedy and has been nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Joy.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the nomination for her role in Joy was her fourth. Playing the "QVC icon" was "the first ‘real' person I've played, so there was that added pressure," Lawrence told the publication.

There is a whole world of inventors and new products out there, and so many involve building molds and injection molding these products. Take a look at Kickstarter, Shark Tank and others, and you'll see some really cool ideas coming to life thanks to the wonderful world of plastics.

We all need to see this movie, and tell our friends and families about it, as well. A movie that takes place in an injection molding plant starring a beautiful and talented actress like Lawrence is the best advertisement that the industry could possibly ask for.