James Franco is in talks to play pornographer Chuck Traynor in Lovelace, a biopic of 1970s porn star Linda Boreman (stage name: Linda Lovelace).  An offer is out to Kate Hudson to play the title role.  Should he sign on, Lovelace would reunite Franco with Howl directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.Boreman starred in what may be the most famous pornographic film of all time: 1972's Deep Throat.  She later claimed that she did not consent to the acts you see in Deep Throat -- that instead she was coerced by abusive husband Traynor with "an M-16 rifle at her head."  More background after the jump:Boreman once wrote:

"When in response to his suggestions I let him know I would not become involved in prostitution in any way and told him I intended to leave, [Traynor] beat me up physically and the constant mental abuse began. I literally became a prisoner, I was not allowed out of his sight, not even to use the bathroom, where he watched me through a hole in the door. He slept on top of me at night, he listened to my telephone calls with a .45 automatic eight shot pointed at me. I was beaten physically and suffered mental abuse each and every day thereafter. He undermined my ties with other people and forced me to marry him on advice from his lawyer." [Wikipedia]

There's more to that quote that I just don't have the stomach to reprint.  It's an awful story.  So awful in fact, that Hollywood is making it twice.  Malin Akerman (Watchmen) is set to play Lovelace in the competing biopic Inferno.  (To Hollywood's credit, both projects are struggling to find funding.)

Traynor sounds like the scumbag to end all scumbags, and Franco will probably play the hell out of that role if he signs on.  Would that be enough to make me want to see Lovelace?  Not sure.  Hudson still can't act, right?

Franco's involvement is uncertain because of his busy schedule.  He has optioned the rights to As I Lay Dying, Blood Meridian, Sal Mineo: A Biography, The Adderall Diaries, and Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir as possible directorial projects.  He's attached to star in Maladies, While We're Young, Ricky Stanicky, and  The Iceman.  He'll star opposite Nicole Kidman in the Broadway play Sweet Bird this fall.  He's hosting the Oscars.  Plus, he'll have to promote his 2011 releases Your Highness and Rise of the Apes.  I believe he has "sleep" penciled in somewhere in March.

Deadline reports Lovelace is scripted by W. Merritt Johnson (Temple Grandin) based on the Eric Danville book The Complete Linda Lovelace.