Jolene Blalock of UPN's "Enterprise" has been tapped as the female lead in GreeneStreet Films and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment's "Slow Burn" for writer-helmer Wayne Beach.

The thriller also stars Ray Liotta and James Todd Smith -- aka rapper LL Cool J -- in the story of a politically ambitious district attorney (Liotta) who enters a 24-hour showdown with a powerful gang leader only to find he is being manipulated by a beautiful assistant district attorney (Blalock) and an enigmatic stranger (Smith).

Set to go before the cameras next month in Montreal, "Slow Burn" is being produced by GreeneStreet president John Penotti and head of production Tim Williams and Sidney Kimmel and Bonnie Timmermann. GreeneStreet's Fisher Stevens and Longfellow Pictures' Andrew Karsch are executive producing.

Said Timmermann, a veteran casting director whose recent credits include "Pearl Harbor," "Black Hawk" Down" and "Spy Game": "Jolene lit up the screen, and I felt the same way I felt when I was reading Julia Roberts for 'Miami Vice' or giving Brad Pitt his first screen test -- you look at them and you know there's something special there."

Repped by Writers & Artists Agency, Beach ("The Art of War," "Murder at 1600") recently penned "Ten Good Men" for Wolfgang Petersen's Radiant Films.

Blalock -- who plays Subcommander T'Pol on "Enterprise" -- is repped by Don Buchwald & Associates.

GreeneStreet's Brittany Murphy-Dakota Fanning starrer "Uptown Girls" is slated to roll out in August through MGM.

Ian Mohr reported from New York; Chris Gardner reported from Los Angeles.