(Friday, October 17 08:23 AM)
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Jamie-Lynn DiScala of "The Sopranos" has signed on to star in a USA Network movie about Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.
The recently married DiScala (nee Sigler), who plays daughter Meadow Soprano on the HBO series, will portray a young Fleiss in the tentatively titled "Going Down: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss."
"I think Jamie is the perfect combination of the girl next door with real intelligence who has the ability to manipulate every situation she is in," Jeff Wachtel, head of series and longform programming for USA, tells The Hollywood Reporter. "We\'ve seen it in her role as Meadow on \'The Sopranos,\' but it\'s much darker here."
"Going Down" will follow Fleiss\' life from the time she entered the world of high-priced escorts as a teenager from a well-to-do Los Angeles family. The movie will explore her relationship with her mentor, Madam Alex, and how Fleiss eventually betrayed her and took over the business.
Fleiss became a household name in the mid-1990s following her arrest for pandering, tax evasion and money laundering, as she purportedly had a "little black book" containing the names of numerous Hollywood players who had been her clients.
A conviction for pandering was overturned on appeal, but Fleiss was found guilty of tax evasion, money laundering and attempted pandering in a second trial. She served two years of a three-year sentence.
In addition to "The Sopranos," DiScala has appeared on Broadway in "Beauty and the Beast" and in the touring company of the musical "Cinderella." She recently finished the feature film "Extreme Dating."