Jennifer Lawrence to Star in New Film ‘Mob Girl’

Back from her break after filming Red Sparrow and Mother!, Jennifer Lawrence has been busy again with her return in an untitled Lila Neugebauer drama film. Now she adds Mob Girl to her list, which she will star in and also produce.

Mob Girl is a film directed by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, where the story is based on the life of a former mob wife turned police informant, Arlyne Brickman. Angelina Burnett is in charge of the script which is adapted from a book of the same name written by Pulitzer Prize winner Teresa Carpenter. The film is a Makeready production.

As the real story goes, Brickman is the daughter of a Jewish East Harlem auto dealership owner and part-time racketeer who sold luxury cars and his wife Barbara. She grew up drawn to the glamorous lifestyle of New York mobsters and idolised Virginia Hill, the girlfriend of mobster Bugsy Siegel. She soon dabbled in the mob life herself, first just hanging out at nightclubs and seducing small-time Italian mobsters in their cars before running drug-related errands for them.

It wasn’t until 1974 when her daughter Leslie was threatened that she became an informant to the police for the next decade, secretly wearing a microphone in her clothing to help bring down loanshark Bobby Frischetti and many other mob figures in the Colombo and Gambino crime families. Carpenter was even told by a prosecutor that she was very good at probing them with second and third questions, something most informants wouldn’t do.

From what Variety reports, the film seems to focus on a similar plot but it’s unclear whether anything might be taken out or changed.

This is also the first project under the new first-look movie deal between Makeready and Excellent Cadaver. Excellent Cadaver is a production company by Lawrence and her producing partner Justine Polsky. Makeready Founder and CEO Brad Weston expresses his thoughts about what the film would bring. “Seeing this story from a woman’s point of view is a fresh and exciting approach to telling a classic mob story.”

He also has great confidence in the film crew too. “We could not imagine a more perfect team of stellar filmmakers, with Jennifer starring in a tour de force role and Paolo at the helm, to bring Arlyne’s strength and unique perspective to life on screen.”

The film is sure to be in good hands as Sorrentino is no stranger to making mafia movies. His thriller Le Conseguenze Dell’amore (The Consequences of Love) about a lonely businessman being used as a pawn by the Mafia won many awards, was even nominated for the Palme d’Or in 2004 and thus gave him his first international recognition.

Besides founding Excellent Cadaver, Lawrence herself has made her mark in the film industry, from being the iconic Katniss Everdeen to X-Men’s Mystique. Over the years, she has also received numerous awards for her roles in various films like the Hunger Games series, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.