If you want an object lesson in how to screw up a promising career, you need look no further than Lindsay Lohan. The tabloid favourite, who most recently has had another stint in jail for not turning up to court appearances and failing to stop drinking/taking drugs, is now pretty much a pariah in Hollywood circles. However there was one glint of hope – a biopic of Linda Lovelace, the star of Deep Throat who went from hardcore sex sensation to feminist activist before dying in a car accident.
Despite her troubles, the producers of the movie, called Inferno, stuck with her, saying she was the woman for the job and they would wait for her. However with a rival biopic in the works and the fact that getting insurance for Lohan is currently pretty much impossible, they’ve had to find a replacement, with Variety reporting that Watchmen star Malin Akerman will step into the breach.
It’s a real blow for Lohan, especially as one of the reason she went to jail was because she’d gone to Cannes to help sell the Lovelace biopic (there were even promo shots of her as the character released) and didn’t go back to the US in time for a court date, claiming her passport had been stolen.
Lovelace became a sensation due to porn chic hit Deep Throat, but later became a strident feminist and anti-porn activist, saying her work in hardcore porn was essentially rape (due to her bullying husband). However she later said she felt used by the anti-pornography movement, which got a lot mileage out of having her as a convert, but which never helped her out. She died in a car accident in 2002.
Writer/direct Matthew Wilder will start filming Inferno, with Akerman in the starring role (and Lohan presumably sat at home feeling bitter), next February.