'Keeping Up With the Joneses' returns to the Lifetime Movie Network with four new two-hour films beginning July 8.
Vivica A. Fox is holding tight to her crown as the queen of the Lifetime Movie Network! ET's Nischelle Turner caught up with the Keeping Up with the Joneses star on the set of season 2 of the hit movie series event. Fox both stars in and produces the films of LMN’s prolific Wrong franchise, which kicked off with a hit three-part Lifetime limited series last year.
The franchise follows Fox's Robin, the matriarch of a wealthy family, who, along with her four stepdaughters, will stop at nothing to protect their business and family after they're threatened.
After the death of her second husband Webb (Ted McGinley), Robin stands to inherit a fortune with the help of family lawyer Sheldon’s (Michael Paré) legal wrangling. Carrie's (Ciarra Carter) philanthropic endeavors have always taken a backseat to the family’s business, but now, with Lance (Adonis Williams) at her side, she plans to expand her role by creating the Crystal Water Fund. Meanwhile, Kayla (Shellie Sterling) is enjoying the single life until she meets Carter (Sam Schweikert), who she quickly falls for. Tara (Jasmine Aivaliotis) begins an affair with her college professor, while Pam (Arie Thompson) strikes up a friendship with Stephen Napoli (Chris Cleveland) -- the CEO of the construction company building the family’s new water facility -- who she grows close to after someone vandalizes the building. But Pam is in for an even bigger shock when the child she gave up for adoption years ago suddenly returns!
"The main goal of Keeping Up With the Joneses was to bring back the days of Dynasty with a little bit of cat fight, fabulous costume, fabulous fashions," Fox shared. "I enjoy this, to be honest with you, because I know right now, there's all the rage with the reality TV catfight type of thing. That doesn't work for me, but if you want me to act with the claws coming out, it's on."
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss serves as the film series' narrator.
Fox is grateful to have found a home on the movie network, noting that she "loves" Lifetime because they "know their audience."
"The sisters have [always] supported me. They will sit around and get their onesie and hot chocolate and binge-watch Vivica Fox all weekend," she noted. "So, it's literally turned into the gift that keeps on giving. Lifetime was the first network to give me my own series back in the day. And, my relationship with them has just really... They've turned me into a filmmaker, and I'm very grateful."
With such a prolific career, there isn't much that Fox hasn't done in her decades of acting, producing, and hosting. "I'm very honest with my agents and my management team about roles that I don't want to do, so they don't even approach me with it," she told ET.
But there is one role that Fox recalled slipping through her fingers -- although she admittedly appreciated the final choice the directors went with.
"The only role that I really wanted that I came close to getting was Storm, but they cast Halle Berry, which she did an amazing job," she recalled. "So, I could say that was about the only one, yeah."
Figuring out what she does and doesn't want to do in her career is a gift Fox does her best to impress upon the younger actors she works with. "I believe that it's all about choices so that if you know a role is not for you, I pass that advice onto young actresses. Do what feels right to you," she said. "Don't have a problem being a triple threat. Be able to sing, dance, and act. But, you can feel when an actor just really isn't there for a role. To me, just the camera reads it."
That's another reason Vivica appreciates her relationship with Lifetime and the franchise they've built together. "Keeping Up With the Joneses is all about girl power, where the executive producer, myself, is a [woman]," she said. "You've got five amazing starring ladies. The narrator is a lady. So, we've got girl power going over here."
Keeping Up With the Joneses returns to the Lifetime Movie Network with four new two-hour films beginning July 8.
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