An American singer and reality TV star has been signed to play Anna Nicole Smith in a biopic of the starlet, who died earlier this year. Willa Ford, who scored a hit single with I Wanna Be Bad in 2001, is to the star in the indie production. Keoni Waxman will direct.

The picture, entitled Anna Nicole, is expected to cover all the highlights of lowlights of Smith's tempestuous life, charting her course from pole-dancer to Playboy centrefold to billionaire widow. Smith died from what was ruled as an accidental drug overdose in February this year.

Further casting on the film has yet to be announced. It is not yet known which actor will take the demanding role of J Howard Marshall - the octogenarian oil tycoon who fell passionately in love with Smith after admiring her performance at a Houston strip joint.

The self-proclaimed "bad girl of pop", Willa Ford recently competed in the third series of the TV reality show Dancing With the Stars, where she was voted off after five weeks. You might remember Keoni Waxman as the director of such B-movie thrillers as The Suspect, The Highwayman and Hostage Negotiator. Then again, you might not.