Producer Aurelio De Laurentiis has announced that Italian beauty Monica Bellucci will play Robert De Niro's love interest in "Manual of Love 3," according to Variety.
While Bellucci previously starred in "Manual of Love 2," it's unclear whether she will reprise her role as a physiotherapist or play an entirely new character.
The latest sequel stars two-time Oscar winner De Niro as a divorced American professor living in Rome, and the role calls for the actor to speak some of his dialogue in Italian.
Giovanni Veronesi directs the romantic comedy, which is scheduled to begin production later this month at Rome's Cinecitta Studios.
The first two films in the romance trilogy grossed a combined $45 million at the Italian box office.
With De Niro and Bellucci on board, De Laurentiis notes that the latest installment "will have greater international ambitions," chief among them, I imagine, some type of distribution in the U.S.
De Laurentiis also revealed that his company Filmauro will restore and re-release Italy's first 3D movie, "Toto in 3D."
The 1953 movie (currently languishing in Rome's National Film Archives) stars the iconic Italian comic Toto, and was produced by the De Laurentiis family. De Laurentiis plans to send the film to a major festival and re-release the vintage stereoscopic title on 300-400 screens in Italy.
Bellucci recently signed on to star in another romantic comedy, this one co-starring her husband, French actor-producer Vincent Cassel. Earlier this summer, she appeared alongside Nicolas Cage in Disney's "The Sorceror's Apprentice," and she'll next be seen opposite Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn and Vanessa Redgrave in Larysa Kondracki's drama "The Whistleblower."
Bellucci is represented by CAA.
