US actress Lindsay Lohan is to portray one of the cult followers loyal to convicted murderer Charles Manson, in a new movie called "Manson Girls," US media reported on Thursday.

E! News said it had learned Lohan, 21, would star as Nancy Pitman in the movie, produced by Brad Wyman of Junction Films.

"Yes, I am doing it with Lindsay," Wyman told E! News.

Pitman was a teenage runaway who fled her wealthy home in Malibu, California at age 16 to join the followers of Manson, who is now 73 and serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Four other defendants were also convicted with Manson for the shocking and gruesome 1969 murders of several people including pregnant actress Sharon Tate.

Pitman stayed at the Manson ranch instead of accompanying the Manson crew that went to the house and committed the murders, though she is believed to have accompanied Manson there later to tamper with the scene.

Manson was initially sentenced to die for his crimes but the sentence was commuted to life in prison after California courts abolished the death penalty.

His 11th appeal for parole was rejected in May 2007.

Lohan also plays the girlfriend of Beatles' singer John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman in the upcoming film "Chapter 27."

Lohan, the onetime child star of Disney's "Parent Trap," spent time in rehab in 2007 for drug and alcohol abuse. She told Elle magazine in a 2006 interview: "Yeah, I have a dark side. I watched all those videos on Charles Manson for a while."