(Photo Credit: Brigitte Lacombe)
Acting legend Robert De Niro has signed on to star alongside comic and actor Sebastian Maniscalco in About My Father, a Lionsgate comedy loosely based on the life of Maniscalco.
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The two-time Oscar-winning actor will portray Salvo, the father of Sebastian, in the film. In the movie, when Sebastian tells his old-school Italian immigrant father that he is going to propose to his all-American girlfriend, Salvo insists on crashing a weekend with her tony parents. Though their cultures clash and it seems that the two families have nothing in common, by the end of the weekend they will be a family.
About My Father will be directed by Laura Terruso (Work It) from a screenplay by Sebastian Maniscalco & Austen Earl, inspired by Sebastian’s own life and relationship with his father. The producers are Depth of Field’s Christ Weitz, Paul Weitz, and Andrew Miano, with Judi Marmel joining as executive producer.
“The way Sebastian talks about his father, Salvo sounds to us like the type of guy who thinks that Robert De Niro should play him in a movie. So we thought, why not?” said president of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, Nathan Kahane. “Actually, Robert De Niro is incredibly selective about the projects he chooses, so we are thrilled that he responded so strongly to this hilarious and heartfelt screenplay. He’ll make a fantastic and funny pairing with Sebastian and we can’t wait to start production later this year.”
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Robert De Niro and Maniscalco previously worked together in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, for which De Niro was nominated for an Oscar as a producer.