David O. Russell's next movie JOY is shaping up to be a SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK reunion. Jennifer Lawrence is close to signing a deal to play Joy Mangano, the inventor of the Miracle Mop, and in an interview with Go, Russell says he wants Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper to star in the biopic as well. The director also talked about his plans for the film.
Really they (producers) came to Jennifer Lawrence and myself. I immediately recognized a great opportunity to do something neither Jennifer nor I have done. It’s the story of a certain woman, what’s going on inside her from a young girl, broke, to when she becomes a bit of a mogul, a bit of a power broker. And the people she’s surrounded by are extremely … she has very complicated, deep, personal family relationships, which are the bane of her and the reason she is who she is. There are great roles for other actors as well, to create a world.
We’re gonna take some risks we haven’t taken before, in storytelling and cinematically. I think I’d very much like (Robert) De Niro to be in it, I think he’s gonna be in it. And of course I always create a role for Bradley Cooper. I try to have things people have never done. Then they can get excited, and it’s exciting for audiences. That’s what makes it daring in some way.
THR has confirmed Robert De Niro is in talks to play Mangano's father in JOY, and the site also says filming will start in early February, after De Niro finishes shooting for the upcoming Zac Efron comedy DIRTY GRANDPA.
I'll watch pretty much anything involving David O. Russell, and I love how he doesn't limit himself to just one genre of film. On paper, JOY might sound like it will be a little boring, however I'm sure it'll be anything but that with Russell behind the camera.