She Plays Her on TV, But Is Joey King Ready to Meet Gypsy Rose Blanchard?

Plus, find out what Blanchard thinks about King's portrayal in The Act

By Chris Harnick Apr 19, 2019 2:00 PMTags
The Act, Joey KingHulu

The role of a lifetime for Joey King is playing a very real, very infamous person: Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

King portrays Blanchard in Hulu's The Act, a true-crime anthology series with the first season based on the story of Blanchard and the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard (played by Patricia Arquette in the series). Blanchard is currently serving time in prison for her role in her mother's murder.

Before she started playing Blanchard, King said she did copious amounts of research, including watching and reading everything she could about the headline-making case. But she didn't talk to Blanchard.

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"Unfortunately, I have not," King said when asked if she had been in contact with Blanchard. "I was not able to be in contact with her before we shot."

While Blanchard, who is recently engaged, is in prison currently, she does know about Hulu's series. Blanchard family friend Fancy Macelli said Blanchard hasn't seen the show, but has taken issue with how certain parts of the story are portrayed and "sensationalized."

Fancy Macelli

"She does know that Joey King is playing her. She knows that there's The Act and she's not happy about The Act from what she's been told by others. She has not been able to see it, but she knows what people are telling her, multiple people are telling her, it's now what we would want, it's not the kind of portrayal that we would want," Macelli told E! News. "That's nothing against Joey, it's more about the series itself. I think Joey does a wonderful job at portraying her. That was someone she really liked. She was very excited about Joey portraying her, but she's very unhappy with the actual series itself."

When asked if she'd eventually want to talk to Blanchard about her portrayal, King was unsure.

"I don't know. I don't have the answer. I kind of go back and forth on that one," she said. "For me, I would be open to hearing from her for sure. I would hear what she has to say."

The Act is streaming on Hulu.

—With reporting by Spencer Lubitz