Why does Hollywood do everything in duplicate? After Lindsay Lohan dropped out of Linda Lovelace biopic Inferno, Amanda Seyfried announced she would be playing Lovelace. Shortly thereafter, Malin Akerman announced she would replace LiLo as Lovelace. Why are there so many mixed signals in the casting of this role, I wondered.

Then I actually read through the latest Lovelace biopic casting news (Hank Azaria will play Amanda Seyfried's porn director) and finally realized there are actually two Linda Lovelace biopics in production. Just like how two Snow White movies are coming out in 2012, and how two Truman Capote movies came out in 2005. Here's a rundown of the competing Lovelace biopics:

  • Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story, film adaption of Linda Lovelace autobiography Inferno, directed by an indie screenwriter you hadn't heard of until he talked shit on LiLo. Malin Akerman sucks an as-yet unknown actor's dick, while husband Matt Dillon abuses her. Sasha Grey and Paz de la Huerta hang out with them, probably while naked, and Michael from Lost plays Sammy Davis, Jr.
  • Lovelace, an original movie about Linda Lovelace, directed by the guys who directed Howl. Amanda Seyfried sucks an as-yet unknown actor's dick, while husband Peter Sarsgaard abuses her and Hank Azaria directs her. After divorcing Sarsgaard, Seyfried marries the creepy/sexy neighbor from American Beauty, who also abuses her. Sharon Stone is Amanda's mother. She steals her daughter's baby and puts it up for adoption. (Or, that's how it went down in Inferno the book.)

Do we really need two Lovelace biopics? Depends how much you enjoy watching blowjobs and/or abusive relationships, I guess. Lovelace has the star-studded cast, bigger budget, and better producers, but Inferno has buzzier good-at-being-naked people and a lead actress who more closely resemblers Lovelace. Both movies have actresses who have shown their vaginas on film. (This is the only time that the names "Sharon Stone" and "Sasha Grey" will be uttered in the same sentence, so enjoy it.) Only one has the Lindsay Lohan curse, though. So, yeah, this is really Lovelace's game to lose.

(And, yes, there are quasi-logical reasons why doppel-movies happens. If you heard somebody was making the very movie you'd been quietly slaving over for years, you'd rush your version into production, too, right? Depends how much you enjoy competitive masochism, I guess.) [Deadline, images via Getty]