Since he teamed up with Will Smith to make inspirational rags-to-riches tale The Pursuit Of Happyness, director Gabriele Muccino’s US filmmaking career has been in serious need of the luck granted to Happyness’ real-life subject.

He had planned to reunite with the Fresh Prince for offbeat superhero drama Tonight, He Comes, but left due to differences and set up French remake A Little Game Without Consequence. Sadly, that promptly got sucked into the pit of development hell currently afflicting Jim Carrey’s work.

So he’ll no doubt be hoping for better things with Man And Wife, a new romantic drama that Universal has acquired. Written by Lorene Scafaria (who wrote the aid worker drama Sweet Relief that Kirsten Dunst is planning to star in), the details are sketchy, but Universal will say that it springs from an immigrant’s love for the States.

It’s obviously a topic that the Italian helmer can identify with… “Diving into this culture is something I've enjoyed doing, but there is nothing more universal than love, and this is about how love can wake a man up like nothing else," he told Variety.

Hopefully he’ll still be feeling the love when the cameras crank this summer in New York. There’s no cast attached yet.