Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh has cast precocious porn star Sasha Grey as the lead in his upcoming feature, “The Girlfriend Experience,” Adult Video News reported.

The low-budget drama, currently shooting in Gotham, chronicles the life of a high-price call girl, is part of Soderbergh’s six-pic deal with multimedia entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Pic was written by “Ocean’s 13” scribes Brian Koppelman and David Levien and will bow under the Magnolia Pictures shingle.

The 20-year-old Grey entered the skin biz just after her 18th birthday and has appeared in scores of XXX flicks. In January she became the youngest recipienct of AVN’s Female Performer of the Year award.

For Grey, who lists Jean-Luc Godard, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Catherine Breillat among her favorite filmmakers, “Girlfriend” will be her third legit film appearance in 2009, having notched small parts in Dick Rude’s indie “Quit” and Canadian horror project “Smash Cut.”

“To have the opportunity to work for an Academy Award-winning auteur is truly a great honor,” Grey told AVN. “I’ve been an admirer of Soderbergh’s films for years, and I am elated that I have been given a leading role in a character-driven film.”