Catherine Zeta-Jones will play Griselda Blanco in Lifetime's 'Cocaine Godmother' biopic.

The 47-year-old actress - who most recently starred in the 2016 'Dad's Army' movie - has been cast in the role of the Miami drug lord, who was nicknamed The Black Widow, in the upcoming true life movie after the network gave the production the go-ahead.

Directed by Guillermo Navarro, the screenplay is based on the life of Griselda, who was living in Queens, New York when she got involved with local drug runners.

Her business grew and she later moved to Miami, and earned her famous nickname - which comes from the female species of spider of the same name which kills the male after mating - after her second husband died.

Griselda later moved to California but was deported to Columbia and was finally gunned down in 2012 after she had been suspected of ordering more than 200 murders.

The role in the television movie will come as Catherine's second TV role in over 20 years, as prior to starring in Fox's 'Feud', her last appearance on the small screen was in 1996.

It's not the first time she has played a drug baron either, as in 2000's 'Traffic' her character was forced to take over the business when her drug lord husband was put into jail.

This latest biopic is a hot topic in Hollywood, after HBO announced details of a film based on Blanco's life last year, in which actress and singer Jennifer Lopez was attached to star.

'Cocaine Godmother' is expected to go into production later this year, to be screened 2018. It is produced by Asylum Entertainment for Lifetime with Steven Michaels, Jonathan Koch, Joan Harrison and Alisa Tager executive producing.

Guillermo ('Pan's Labrynth', 'Narcos') will direct from a script written by David McKenna who has worked on 'American History X'.

Meanwhile Catherine is rumoured to be playing the role of Countess Teragni in upcoming biopic 'Vivaldi' - which is based on Antonio Vivaldi's early life, when the young priest became the music teacher at a school for the illegitimate daughters of Venice's courtesans.