Liz Taylor Movie Producer Is Getting Hate Email for Casting Lindsay Lohan

"I'm An Idiot" Is a Recurring Theme of the Missives, Says Producer Larry Thompson

Never underestimate how seriously some celebrity fans take their devotion to certain movie stars, and their hatred of certain other stars. That's the lesson the producer of an upcoming Elizabeth Taylor movie found out when he cast controversy magnet Lindsay Lohan to portray the late Taylor on screen.

Read: Elizabeth Taylor's Family Not Happy with Lindsay Lohan Playing Liz

Lohan's late, too … not as in dead, of course, but as in she is perpetually late, no matter how big the event or how big the comeback opportunity, a habit that is but one of many that continue to perpetuate a negative image of her.

And that image is why fans of Taylor have emailed Thompson, whose Liz & Dick -- a movie about the stormy love affair between Taylor and Richard Burton -- will air on Lifetime, wondering how he could possibly hire La Lohan to portray the iconic Taylor, reports the New York Times.

"I'm an idiot," and "How dare you" are the general sentiments of the emails, Thompson says, as Taylor fans feel he shouldn't "reward" troubled Lohan by hiring her to play Taylor.

Thompson, a Hollywood manager who reps William Shatner, Joan Rivers and David Hasselhoff, also considered Megan Fox, Olivia Wilde, Kate Beckinsale and Jennifer Connelly to play Taylor.

Read: Lindsay Lohan: A Progression

But it's Lohan who actually has the most in common with Taylor, from their former child star years and multiple rehab stays to their rocky love lives and the fact that they have both been tabloid media and paparazzi targets, a plot point, Thompson says, in the Lifetime movie. Lohan even dressed up like Taylor for a 2006 issue of Interview magazine.

Thompson, in fact, sounds quite satisfied with his hiring of Lohan, and the Liz & Dick movie will start filming in Los Angeles on June 4.

If he can an actor to portray Burton, something that has been a bit of a challenge, he tells the Times.

"We're looking for someone to balance Lindsay Lohan, in a way," he said.