Lindsay Lohan has reportedly been sacked from the role of Linda Lovelace in a forthcoming biopic of the 70s porn star.
Matthew Wilder, director and screenwriter of Inferno, said on his Facebook page at the weekend that he had been forced to dismiss the actor due to her ongoing travails. Lohan is currently in rehab trying to overcome addiction issues relating to drugs and alcohol. She spent two weeks in jail in August and 22 further days on a residential drug programme after an LA judge ruled she had violated her probation on a 2007 conviction for drink-driving and cocaine possession.
Wilder said: "We stuck by her very patiently for a long time with a lot of love and support. The impossibility of insuring her and other issues have made it impossible for us to go forward."
Lohan will be replaced by Malin Akerman, who starred in the comic book epic Watchmen.
Wilder's screenplay, which landed on the 2008 Black List of the best unfilmed scripts in Hollywood, is based on the book Ordeal: An Autobiography by Lovelace and Mike McGrady.
The film adaptation would have marked a return to a starring role for Lohan, who also appeared in action romp Machete recently but has otherwise struggled to find regular acting work. The 24-year-old former child star has reportedly said she quit Inferno voluntarily to focus on her recovery. Sources told the Sun she claimed she felt the project "no longer felt right".
Lovelace rose to fame in the 1970s as the star of Deep Throat, one of the first pornographic films to feature a plot, character development and reasonably high production standards. It made a huge impact upon its release, though it was banned in the UK and was the subject of a number of obscenity trials in the US.
Lovelace, real name Linda Susan Boreman, later denounced the film and its makers, becoming an anti-pornography activist. She said she had been forced into the career – often at gunpoint – by her first husband, Chuck Traynor.