CONFIRMED: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper are all expected at TIFF 2012

Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper first worked together in last year’s thriller Limitless. This year they return in David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook. Cooper, playing a cuckolded substitute teacher recently released from a mental institution, returns home to his father (De Niro), a football fanatic weary of his son’s emotional antics. Jennifer Lawrence plays the lovely but strange girl-next-door—i.e., Cooper’s love interest. The I Heart Huckabee’s director’s finely tuned eye for dramatic comedy could be the perfect fit for all three actors: for Cooper, who may just prove his acting chops; for De Niro, whose comic ability deserves far more than Meet the Parents/Fockers; and for Lawrence, who could use a little quirk to match her smoulder.

(Images: Lawrence and Cooper, TIFF; DeNiro, Lia Grainger)