Sexy Italian actress Monica Belluci will play Robert De Niro's love interest in Manual of Love 3, announced producer Aurelio De Laurentiis. However, it is unclear whether Belluci will repeat her role as a psychotherapist in the earlier film Manual Love 2 or play an entirely new character.

The sequel has Oscar winner De Niro as a divorced American professor living in Rome. The rom-com directed by Giovanni Veronesi is scheduled to begin production later this month in Rome.

With De Niro and Bellucci on board, De Laurentiis notes that the latest installment will have greater international ambitions. The earlier two films made a business of $45 million.

Bellucci recently signed another romantic comedy with her husband, French actor-producer Vincent Cassel as the co-star. 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.