LOS ANGELES, USA (AP) — Lindsay Lohan is joining the big screen Gotti family as the wife of John Gotti Jr in a biopic of one of New York’s most infamous families.

She called her casting in Gotti: Three Generations a huge honour and told The Associated Press yesterday that the film is an opportunity to prove herself as an actress again.

“I’m really excited to be back on set and clear up all the misinterpretations about me and show this is what I love to do,” Lohan said.

John Travolta has been cast to play John Gotti Sr, the mob family’s patriarch who had a flair for style and a knack for avoiding convictions that earned him the name Teflon Don. Joe Pesci will play one of his deputies.

The younger Gotti has insisted he left the mob life in the 1990s, but has been unsuccessfully tried four times on racketeering charges.

He sold the rights to his life story to Fiore Films, which is developing the film focusing on Junior Gotti’s relationship with his father. It will be shot in New York and is set for a 2012 release.

Lohan made a surprise appearance at a press conference last week and was expected to be in the running to play the elder Gotti’s daughter, Victoria. By Wednesday, discussions for Lohan playing that role had ended, but the actress successfully lobbied to remain on the project.

“I think it’s such an iconic story,” Lohan told the AP. “I think it’s a great story to be told. I’m honoured to be working with John Travolta and Joe Pesci.”

Lohan’s role as Kim Gotti has parallels to her own life, she said.

Like the Gotti family, Lohan is no stranger to criminal troubles. She faces a felony grand theft case in Los Angeles after a jewellery store accused her of stealing a US$2,500 necklace, and is due in court for a hearing on Friday.

She has rejected two plea deals in that case with guaranteed jail time, and could be incarcerated for violating her probation on a 2007 drunken driving case.

She said her legal troubles won’t be a distraction.

“I think in the past, I had a lot of distractions,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot. I’ve lived a lot. When I’m on set, it’s about the film.”