Joan Rivers at DocFest
It's Day One of Doc/Fest and Joan Rivers has disappeared! Well, not appeared might be more accurate. Here we are waiting at the press conference and the star of the show is missing. Eventually a head pops round the door to tell us that Ms Rivers is here but has to get dressed. Five minutes later… “Joan is here but not ready yet. It took her five hours to get here, so she has to do hair and make-up.” Now if it takes five hours to get by car from London to Sheffield, how long does it take Joan Rivers to put on make-up? It could be a long wait.
Thirty-five minutes late, Joan appears – and she's amazing!
A ripple of pleasure goes round the room. Joan, who is here to promote her film Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work – chosen to open this year's festival, can sense that she is among fans. The first question is: “Why Sheffield?” To which she answers: “Why not Sheffield?”
Then she is asked how she feels about the film. “Beyond happy. It didn't come out a stupid puff piece. If you're going to do something, do it right. Let's tell the truth.”
Co-director Ricki Stern emphasises how open she was, from the first scene where she appears without make-up. Joan was always the one who said: “Come in” to meetings. It helped that Joan has known Ricki, and her mother, for a long time. “Her mother is the funniest woman in the world after me.”
On a more serious note, Joan says that the film is about ageing and about women surviving. So there is a social message? Yes, but she also wanted it to be good Friday night entertainment. Documentaries don't have to be worthy. Being Joan, she can't resist adding: “In the United States they're looking for, like me helping a cripple. I could have had an abortion, but I don't have a uterus.”
“Were there any rules of conduct? Did you have any power of veto?”
“No, I hate, 'You can't do this.' Then it's not a documentary.”
Did she find the process intrusive?
Joan says: “The only good thing about age is you don't give a fuck. What, I'm going to offend somebody at NBC? They've already fired me! That's the good thing about it, I don't care.”
“Is there anything you wouldn't share with the public?”
“Probably a full frontal naked shot. But they get that in the airport.”
After this, we couldn't wait to see the film – and it certainly doesn't disappoint.
Read our full Doc/Fest coverage here
