Germany's controversy-courting former ice-skating champion, Katarina Witt, is poised to return to the big screen in The Hollywood Sign.

The film is the first to be financed by Eric Pleskow and Leon De Winter's Dutch studio PlesWin Entertainment Group and is the US production debut of Sonke Wortmann, German director of Der Bewegte Mann.

Witt is to play the part of a head-turning drug dealer and joins a cast which already boasts Burt Reynolds, Rod Steiger and Tom Berenger.

Pleswin is fully financing the film in association with Senator Films, the German producer-distributor which retains German rights. Amberlon Entertainment, a joint venture between Pleswin and Senator, is handling worldwide sales.

A larger than life figure, Witt last year appeared nude in Playboy magazine. After a modest TV career she got her big screen break appearing as herself in Jerry Maguire and then appeared as a skater in John Frankenheimer's Ronin.