For a couple of years now there have been two rival movies about hardcore porn actress turned anti-smut activist Linda Lovelace in the works, but neither have actually got to the point where they’ve been ready to go in front of the cameras.
Actresses such as Olivia Wilde, Malin Akerman, Kate Hudson and Lindsay Lohan have flirted with playing the porn star (Lohan was essentially fired as they couldn’t get insurance for her), but now Amanda Seyfried has entered talks to play the role in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s (Howl) take on Lovelace’s life.
Variety also reports that Peter Sarsgaard is also in talks to join the film, playing Chuck Traynor, Linda Lovelace’s husband and porn director. Linda Lovelace is a fascinating figure far beyond the titilation of being the star of one of the best known porn films in history – Deep Throat. Initially appearing in hardcore (and even bestiality) movies, at first Lovelace seemed to revel in her status. However during her divorce from Chuck Traynor in the late 70s, she claimed that he was violent and had forced her into pornography at gunpoint (with some evidence to back her up).
She said that her marriage was plagued with beatings and rape, and that when she appeared in porn, it was basically enforced prostitution. While there have been some disagreements as to the extent Lovelace was a willing participant in her porn career (her assertions that everything was coerced have been questioned by many who were there at the time), there seems little doubt that her marriage to Traynor was viscious and cruel.
She then became an anti-pornography champion, speaking at public events and testifying at government hearings on pornography. However she later said she felt used by the anti-pornography movement, which got a lot mileage out of having Lovelace as a convert, but which never helped her out. She died in a car accident in 2002.
Epstein and Friedman (Howl) will direct from a screenplay by Merritt Johnson and Andy Bellin, which is adapted from Eric Danville’s book, The Complete Linda Lovelace. Production is finally scheduled to begin in January, around the same time as the rival movie – Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story – will start filming, with Malin Akerman in the lead role.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
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