It's a matter to ponder: if an episode of your life was going to be adapted for the silver screen, who would you want portraying you?

Myself, I like to suppose Michelle Pfeiffer or Geena Davis might be cast in the role, even if deep down I know I'm really more Kathy Bates material.

And if I knew Jessica Biel would be playing the part of me, I'd be shamelessly flattered — and of course, it would be to dramatize an episode from long ago.

Turns out it's Biel's intensity, not her dazzling screen presence, that most appeals to Kathleen Zellner. The high-profile, busy actress has been chosen to play the high-profile, busy attorney, who practiced in Naperville for 17 years before relocating her office to Oak Brook two years ago.

"I feel very confident in her ability to play the role," Zellner said Thursday. "She was telling me how difficult it is as a woman to get a leading part in a movie. There just aren't that many interesting roles."

Titled "Privileged Information" — the first project listed on the in-production portion of Biel's Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) page — the movie will tell the story of Zellner's experiences in the early 1990s after she was appointed to represent the ruthless serial killer Larry Eyler in his post-conviction procedures.

"It's not going to be a slasher movie. It's going to be more of a thriller, and suspense," she said, likening the tone of the film to the haunting Anthony Hopkins-Jodie Foster collaboration, "Silence of the Lambs."

Before he died of AIDS in 1994, Eyler revealed to Zellner, one crime at a time, how he killed 21 people in addition to the victim whose killing had landed him in the penitentiary where the confidential confessions were made.

It wasn't easy carrying around the awful knowledge for the 18 months that went by before Eyler succumbed to his illness, but she had no choice. The constraints of attorney-client privilege demanded that she keep it to herself.

"It was very difficult, but you have an ethical obligation as an attorney," said Zellner, who lives in Wheaton.

There was a measure of relief in Eyler's passing, and the closure of 21 unsolved murder cases.

"I do think it was fortuitous in his having an early death," she said.

The experience also brought an epiphany of sorts for the lawyer, who shifted her focus from criminal matters to civil cases — though she continues to occasionally represent those who appear to have been wrongly convicted. So far she has used DNA evidence to help secure the release of 10 people, she said.

"What that did was it transformed me from a typical criminal defense attorney ... to one that really wanted to defend innocent people," said Zellner, 52. "Actually a lot of good came out of it, I think."

Among her recent civil victories was securing a $15.5 million award in December 2007 for Kevin Fox of Wilmington, who wrongly spent eight months behind bars after he was accused in the horrific murder of his 3-year-old daughter Riley. That crime remains unsolved.

As for Eyler's nightmarish killing spree, the story will be told after the writing team is selected, and after Biel has spent some time job shadowing the savvy litigator. Zellner said Biel has told her production will take about 18 months.

"It sounded to me like this is really one of her top projects," Zellner said. "I think she's really focused on it."

The lawyer didn't sound terribly star-struck to me — and it's unlikely that she is wowed by Biel's glam factor, or by the omnipresent mob of paparazzi in her wake.

"It's kind of a fun thing for me, because I can just sit back and help," Zellner said.