Acclaimed Director David O. Russell Calls GENERAL HOSPITAL Actors “Professional Athletes”

Academy Award-nominated director David O. Russell praised the talents of daytime actors!

In the upcoming film Joy, the mother of the title character played by Jennifer Lawrence, is obsessed with a soap opera, so writer/director David O. Russell created one of his own and enlisted daytime legends Maurice Benard (Sonny, GENERAL HOSPITAL), Susan Lucci (Erica, ALL MY CHILDREN), Laura Wright (Carly, GH) and Donna Mills (ex-Madeline, GH) to star in it!

“We shot a soap opera from the ’60s to the 2000s,” Russell said during the The Hollywood Reporter Director Roundtable. “And those guys are like professional athletes.”

Also at the roundtable was Quentin Tarantino, who interjected, “That might be one of the most interesting things said at the table. The power of soap opera actors. That actually is a nugget, and I buy it 100 percent!”

In response, Benard posted to Facebook: “It was such a privilege to be in a David O. Russell movie. Working with David is like working with an incredibly talented mad scientist. The energy was out of this world and it made me want to be great.”

The entire director’s roundtable will air on CLOSE UP WITH THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER on Sunday, January 3, at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sundance TV. And Joy hits theaters on Christmas Day. But for a clip of Russell’s praise for daytime actors, watch below!