"If a great script is a movie's first life, then a great director's job is to add the final, perfect stroke. Two years ago, a $3 million indie called Juno—shot with a bunch of no-names—blew everyone away. On the surface Source Code looks nothing like Juno, but at its core it's the same: it's about what makes us human. Joey Grant just reminded Hollywood that sci-fi doesn't have to be a superhero sermon—it can actually mean something again."
That glowing pull-quote came from Pauline Kael's spiritual successor at The New Yorker, the critic famous for saying Meryl Streep "can't act below the neck." When someone that savage hands you flowers, you frame them.
Week three, Source Code pulled another insane $33.4 million.
Week four, still running on rocket fuel, it added $23.42 million. A month in and most movies are limping; this one was still sprinting.
Total domestic take after just four weeks: $120 million—on a $20 million budget.
Joey Grant had done it again. Another miracle, bigger and louder than the last time.
The internet crowned her overnight: supernova, genius, goddess, the second coming.
Her agent Catherine's phone was melting. Every studio in town was sliding into her inbox with open checkbooks and dream projects. Disney straight-up offered her Pirates of the Caribbean 2. TV shows, radio, podcasts—everyone wanted first dibs on interviews.
Joey turned them all down. One, she still hadn't decided what to do next. Two, she'd spent years as tabloid chew-toy and had zero interest in jumping back into the spotlight circus.
The paparazzi didn't care. They camped outside her Santa Monica like it was the second coming of Britney circa 2007.
So she bailed to New York for breathing room.
Walking through Times Square incognito, no sunglasses, just a black tee and jeans, hair down, she snapped a quick selfie and tossed it on her dusty old blog.
Within minutes the comments exploded. She had no idea that many people were even following her.
"Goddess, Source Code is the best sci-fi I've ever seen. Current #1 forever."
"I thought Juno was your peak—then you dropped this nuke."
"Joey what lipstick shade is that I need it!!"
"I used to side-eye Asian looks but your talent, confidence, and brain made me eat my words. You're the most beautiful."
"Joey + Hughes = endgame. Get back together already!!"
One fan wrote : "Did you go to the West Heaven and bring back scriptures or what? How did you suddenly level-up like this after Juno?"
Joey replied with self-deprecating humor: "Guess my third eye finally opened… just took long enough!"
While the movie kept stampeding toward $180 million domestic and climbing, Joey caught Renée's Broadway show. After the curtain, the two friends squealed and ugly-cried in each other's arms backstage.
"I did it, Renée. I actually did it!"
"You freaking SLAYED, babe!"
They grabbed late-night dinner and—who else—ran into Meg Ryan hiding out in the same restaurant.
"Meg slid her giant sunglasses off, grinning. "Fugitives stick together. L.A.'s a zoo right now."
Meg had been dragged through the mud all over again once the movie blew up, but the love was finally louder than the old scandal.
She squeezed Joey's hand. "I owe you, JOY. Without you I'd still be yesterday's news."
Joey squeezed back. "We both crawled out of the same ditch. We earned this."
Renée, never one to miss gossip, leaned in. "So… you and Hughes working together again. Any… sparks?"
Joey rolled her eyes so hard they almost fell out.
Meg just laughed, soft and knowing. "Renée, honey, women don't live for men. We might fall for one once. After that? We rise."
The next day, Times Square again—paparazzi finally sniffed her out. Cameras clicked like machine guns.
One reporter, smelling blood, shouted: "Joey! Tobey Maguire turned down the lead to do The Good German, which just tanked hard. You gonna buy him a drink to thank him for passing on Source Code?"
The circle of reporters went dead silent. Savage question.
Joey could've no-commented and let them spin it into "Joey snubs Tobey." Instead she flashed that megawatt smile and said:
"Oh my God, are you kidding? Tobey Maguire is amazing—he's literally Peter Parker! The man's a legend!"
The whole pack cracked up. Tension gone. The clip went viral by dinner.
Headlines the next day:
"HOLLYWOOD'S NEW QUEEN HAS GOD-TIER EQ"
"Reporter tries to bait Joey Grant, gets absolutely charmed instead"
Less than two months in, Source Code crossed $180 million domestic—nine times its budget—and still had legs.
Every portal front page was flooded with fans losing their minds:
"This movie gave me permanent brain tingles."
"Who possessed Joey Grant? She's on demon time and I'm here for it."
"She's not just hot—she conquered me with pure intellect. Take notes, basic starlets."
One viral essay titled "She Changed How I See Asian People" racked up a million views. A former skeptic laid out how Joey single-handedly shattered every lazy stereotype he'd carried.
Joey read it on her phone in a quiet Manhattan café, eyes glassy.
She logged into the comments and left one simple line that became the quote of the year, plastered on T-shirts, tattoos, and dorm walls for the rest of the decade:
"Dreams never die."
Dream never die!