Sexy Jamie-Lynn ÂDiScala slowly stripped off her clothes and climbed into bed with a muscular naked man she’d just met. Their sweat-covered bodies were quickly entwined with each other as she repeatedly moaned with pleasure.
And that was just the first day on the set filming the USA Network movie “Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss,” airing Monday.
DiScala, better known as Mafia princess Meadow Soprano on the hit HBO series “The Sopranos,” plays the notorious “Hollywood Madam.”
To settle their nerves before filming sex scenes for the first time, some actresses have a couple of drinks. But, she says, she was stone-cold sober.
“I probably should have had a glass of wine, but I didn’t.
“My first day of work was filming my hooker montage. And so every scene was me meeting another gentleman and simulating sex.
“Then I’d move on to the next man, and by the end of the day I felt like a hooker.” But when the camera pans in for close-ups, it won’t be the Jericho, L.I., actress that viewers will be watching.
“Nudity is not something I’m comfortable with, and so I had a body double for shots where you see me naked. Even so, it was definitely hard for me because sex is really personal and intimate.
“It’s embarrassing pretending to have sex in front of 50 people, many of whom are men. And then you have to worry about your family and friends seeing it.
“I know there are actresses who do nudity and are comfortable with their bodies; I don’t know if I ever will be.”
But she was willing to strip down to her skimpy undies for some steamy shots in the April issue of men’s magazine FHM.
Still, she explains: “I’m only 22 years old, and even though I’m married and everything, I feel like I’m kind of innocent when it comes to sex.”
It was only eight months ago that the former Jamie-Lynn Sigler walked down the aisle with her manager, A.J. DiScala, 10 years her senior.
Her anxious husband will be watching his wife in bed with other men for the first time as the rest of the country does.
“He didn’t come to the set, and I don’t blame him. It’s difficult,” she says. “We discussed it and really weighed the pros and cons of the role.”
Asked whether she picked up any sex tricks while making the film that she took home to her husband, she turned slightly red and replies: “Umm, I don’t think I learned anything more.”
The brunette beauty says she took a gamble on playing the hooker-turned-madam to showcase her acting ability.
“Everyone was telling me that I couldn’t do it or they couldn’t see me playing that kind of role, or taking on that subject matter.
“But I’ve always strived to challenge myself and be seen as an actress who can play any part.
“How many women my age get to be the lead in a movie and play a role so complex and colorful in every scene because of her drug use or because of what’s happening in her life.”
Fleiss ran a high-class escort service in Hollywood for a string of rich and famous clients, many of them in the movie business.
Her “agency” became so high-profile that police began an investigation, and in 1996 she was indicted on charges of tax evasion, money laundering and pandering. She was sentenced to 37 month in jail.
The infamous Hollywood Madam kept a “little black book” supposedly containing the names of top studio executives and actors, although it was never made public.
But one celebrity who was outed during the trial was actor Charlie Sheen, who testified that he paid $50,000 for services from Fleiss’ $2,500-a-night escorts.
“Heidi got off on money, power and fame,” says DiScala. “She’s a risk-taker and liked to live on the wild side, which is why she was a prostitute briefly before she was a madam. “But we didn’t want to make a gratuitous film, all about nudity and sex. It’s really about the link between sex, power, money and drugs in Hollywood.”
Fleiss, now running her Heidi Wear clothing and lingerie line, was not a consultant on the film, which originally had the sleazy title “Going Down.”
“It was completely unauthorized. Heidi was not involved,” DiScala says. “I never even spoke to her.
“In the beginning, I had all these preconceived notions she was an evil bitch. But I left the film liking her and thinking she is not a bad person.”
The 5-foot-6 actress had to shed 14 pounds to play the stick-thin Fleiss, which put her at risk because when she first joined “The Sopranos” in 1999, she battled an eating disorder that she called “exercise bulimia.”
“The difference [with the recent weight loss] was that I had it monitored by a nutritionist,” she says. “And I really looked forward to the end of the shoot when I was able to gain some of it back.”
“The Sopranos” has started its fifth season, and the cast will be filming the final episodes later this year.
“Meadow’s continuing to evolve as a young woman and growing up, and she’s appreciating her family more.
“But there’s one big surprise for my character at the end of the season, which sets things off for the last season.”