Robert De Niro says he’ll reteam with Jennifer Lawrence on ‘Joy’

Robert De Niro looks to be headed for a joyous reunion.

While promoting a documentary about his father in Rome on Monday, the 71-year-old actor said he’s going to reteam with Jennifer Lawrence and David O. Russell for “Joy,” a movie about the life of Miracle Mop creator Joy Mangano.

“Yeah, I am going to do something with them. I am going to play a father,” De Niro told reporters during a news conference for the European launch of HBO’s “Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr.” De Niro’s comments would seem to confirm recent reports linking him to the film, although a deal has not yet been made.

If things do pan out, “Joy” will be De Niro’s third film with Lawrence and Russell, after he played Bradley Cooper’s father in “Silver Linings Playbook” and made a cameo in “American Hustle.”

Scheduled for a Christmas 2015 release, “Joy” is a rags-to-riches tale that is to star Lawrence as Mangano, the Long Island single mother and entrepreneur who became a shopping-network star and built an empire on a self-wringing plastic mop. De Niro would play Mangano’s dad.

Russell will direct the Fox film from a script by Annie Mumolo, who co-wrote “Bridesmaids.”

“Joy” is shaping up to be quite the get-together for Russell and his de facto rep company. In a recent interview with the Omaha World-Herald, the director said he has his eye on not just De Niro, but another of his frequent collaborators.

“I think I’d very much like De Niro to be in [‘Joy’],” Russell said. “I think he’s gonna be in it. And of course I always create a role for Bradley Cooper.”

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