Joycelyn O’Brien’s First Movie Is With Sly Stallone, Thank You

Joycelyn O’Brien is dying of suspicion.

Her first film, the Sylvester Stallone comedy “Oscar,” opens Friday and she still hasn’t seen an inch of footage.

“I haven’t even seen the dailies,” O’Brien admits. “The pressure is just frightening. (Director) John Landis kept the filming very, very, tightly guarded. I have only seen myself in stills and in the mirror. I don’t know exactly what they left in or eliminated.”

In the lavish Touchstone Pictures comedy, O’Brien plays Nora, the feisty Irish maid of Angelo (Snaps) Provolone (Stallone), a notorious bootlegger trying to go straight.

O’Brien says she had anything but a “Rocky” relationship with Stallone. “I had a wonderful time with Sylvester,” O’Brien says. “He has a great sense of humor. He is a bright and passionate guy.”

“Oscar” made the headlines last November when its costumes and several sets were lost in the Universal Studios’ fire. “They had to redo all the costumes,” O’Brien explains. “They even had to paint a scarf for me to match a scarf that had been destroyed. They matched it with photographs of the scarf.”

O’Brien’s still in shock that she got the role of Nora. It was the film’s casting director Jackie Burch who became her champion. “Jackie suggested I get in touch with her nanny, who is from Ireland, to work on my accent,” she says. “I did a scene for John Landis in his office and I just got the part. It was the briefest audition I ever had.”

After working on the stage in Chicago, New York and London, O’Brien packed her bags and moved to Los Angeles two years ago. “I was very nervous about coming out here,” she says. “I had heard horror stories about Los Angeles. But New York was not a very welcoming place. When I came out here I was shocked. I met so many incredibly warm people--a real community of people who are supportive of theater and good quality work.”