Emma Booth, Dougie the Pizza Boy Underbelly's star signing
AUSTRALIAN actress Emma Booth will swap Hollywood for Kings Cross with confirmation she will star in the next series of Underbelly.
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AUSTRALIAN actress Emma Booth will swap Hollywood for Kings Cross with confirmation she will star in the next series of Underbelly.
Booth, who recently shot feature films opposite Sienna Miller and Clive Owen, has signed with the television production as prostitute and dumped policewoman Kim Hollingsworth.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Screentime Australia's Des Monaghan confirmed the casting coup.
"We are absolutely delighted with Emma coming on board,'' Mr Monaghan said. "She will start filming in the coming weeks and it's a great role, a very tough role.''
The Sunday Telegraph can also reveal Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim will be played by relative newcomer Firass Dirani.
"He's a very young man just getting established and just finding his way to the Cross,'' Mr Monaghan said of the role.
He refused to detail Mr Ibrahim's level of involvement in the production.
Ms Hollingsworth fought a long battle with the NSW Police Force after she was dumped as a cadet in the 1990s following the revelation she had worked as a prostitute and stripper. She did, however, work undercover, integral to the 1995 Wood Royal Commission into police corruption.
"It's a remarkable role because Kim Hollingsworth is a remarkable woman,'' Mr Monaghan said. ``Her story is one we've been interested in for a long time.''
Ms Hollingsworth was a key adviser on the production.
"There are some things that I have only discussed with the writers of Underbelly, but not with anybody else and that's the nature of the story and the way it's told. They're going to concentrate on the sensational bits,'' Ms Hollingsworth said recently.
"It's going to be shocking but I can't deny it, I did it. What I'm wanting is the truth to get out and that I'm not whitewashed.''
Booth, 27, is in Britain promoting films Hippie Hippie Shake with Miller and The Boys Are Back with Owen.
Underbelly: The Golden Mile starts filming in and around Sydney tomorrow.
Peter O'Brien will also reprise his role as George Freeman for the series.
If that is not enough, Dougie The Pizza Boy - Diarmid Heidenreich - will feature in the next instalment of Nine's Underbelly.
And while details on his role were scarce, we're assured it won't involve delivering fast food.
