After taking a short acting hiatus, Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence is back with a slate of new projects that should keep Academy voters very interested. The latest film is based on a true story, and could be one of Lawrence’s juiciest roles to date.
According to Variety, Lawrence’s next project — which she will star in and produce under her company Excellent Cadaver — is Mob Girl, an upcoming film by The Young Pope’s Paolo Sorrentino. The movie, which is based on the life of Arlyne Brickman and Teresa Carpenter’s non-fiction book Mob Girl: A Woman's Life in the Underworld, stars Lawrence as the mob wife turned police informant.
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Lawrence’s Brickman grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she became attracted to the glamorous lifestyle that the less-than-legal actions of her neighborhood’s mob men could provide. When she’s caught getting involved in their crimes, Brickman becomes an informant, and “a major witness in the government’s case against the Colombo crime family."
Brickman is a complicated character. Though she reportedly had full intention of seducing “wiseguys” to get what she wanted (she admired Virginia Hill, Bugsy Siegal’s girlfriend) she was also the victim of violence at their hands. According to The Los Angeles Times, Brickman was gang-raped, beaten, and threatened by the men that she associated with. She chose not to be protected by the federal government after her time as an informant and even gave public interviews following the release of Carpenter's book.
As for Lawrence, Mob Girl is just one of several she's attached to following her turn as Raven in this year's Dark Phoenix. She's set to portray Elizabeth Holmes, alleged Silicon Valley scammer, in the upcoming film Bad Blood, and will reportedly star in a drama from theater director Lila Neugebauer. She was previously attached to Lynsey Addario biopic with Steven Spielberg though it's unclear the status of the film.