Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story, one of two competing biopics about the legendary and controversial pornographic actress, is in final talks to add Adam Goldberg (Zodiac, Dazed and Confused). Goldberg would play fellow porn actor Harry Reems in the film. Matthew Wilder (Your Name Here) has been tapped to write and direct.

Linda Lovelace was arguably the most famous porn actress of the '70s, a time when pornographic films were still seen as legitimate art. She only made a handful of pornographic films before quitting the industry and divorcing her husband, Chuck Traynor. Malin Akerman (Watchmen) will play Linda Lovelace in the film.

Inferno will be based on "Ordeal: An Autobiography", the controversial book Lovelace wrote with Mike McGrady. In the book, Lovelace claimed that Traynor, who will  be played by Matt Dillon in the movie, beat her and held a gun to her head while she was making the pornographic films. He also later "discovered" Marilyn Chambers, arguably the biggest porn star of the early '80s.

Inferno also stars Paz de la Huerta (Boardwalk Empire), former porn star Sasha Grey (Entourage) and Harold Perrineau, who will play Linda's sometimes lover, Sammy Davis Jr. The film is also competing with different Linda Lovelace biopic, entitled Lovelace, which stars Amanda Seyfried, James Franco, Hank Azaria, Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone, Eric Roberts, Robert Patrick and Demi Moore.

The source material for Inferno makes it titillating but the truth makes it far more dramatic. Akerman seems to have the talent to pull off the role, as does the rest of the cast, but adding Sasha Grey may add a certain wink factor to the production; however, Lovelace arguably has the bigger names. Competing films of the same variety sometimes meet poor ends, as studios start rushing to be the first to release their version, which can damage the quality of the end product. In the coming years we'll have two Snow White movies (Mirror Mirror / Snow White and the Huntsman), and two movies about the same mob hitman (The Ice Man / The Iceman) so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out at the box office.

Lovelace will arrive sometime in 2012; Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story is scheduled to start filming in Louisiana in early February and slated to be released in 2013.

Source: Variety