Jared Leto to play Hugh Hefner in new Biopic
Stop the presses, Jared Leto has been cast to play Hugh Hefner in an upcoming biopic!
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) will direct the planned biopic of the Playboy founder, who died last week at age 91. He’s reportedly had his heart set on making a biopic on Hefner since 2007, and the film is now in early development with his production company, RatPac Productions.
How It all began….
In 2007, director founder Hugh Hefner did everything he could to get a biopic about his life off the ground. In 2007, director Brett Ratner joined forces with the famous lothario to get some steam on the project, eventually bringing Robert Downey Jr.into the fold to play the lead. After the success of Iron Man, Hefner made it known loud and clear that he approved of the casting, later telling People that “it would be my hope and dream.” The trio had a meeting that sealed the deal and things looked promising. However, there was still no script and no forward motion, so the project eventually fell apart, as these things often do.
But in the wake of Hefner’s death things seem to be back in gear, with Jared Leto as the lead.
“Jared is an old friend,” Ratner said. “When he heard I got the rights to Hef’s story, he told me, ‘I want to play him. I want to understand him.’ And I really believe Jared can do it. He’s one of the great actors of today… My goal is to do the motion picture as an event.”
Jared’s casting has been in the works for a while
Back in April, Ratner invited Jared to the Playboy Mansion for the premiere of Amazon’s docuseries American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story, an occasion which also marked Hefner’s 91st birthday. Ratner hoped to introduce Jared to Hefner that evening, knowing that he would play him in the film, but due to Hefner’s waning health he wasn’t greeting guests.
“There’s enough footage on Hef out there that Jared will be able to get as much information as he wants,” Ratner said.
After the original R.D.J. iteration, the project went through several ups and downs. For a period there, Ratner actually lost his grip on Hefner’s life rights, which were then snatched up by producer Jerry Weintraub for Warner Bros. When Weintraub died in 2015, Ratner was able to land the rights once again.
So here’s the part where we all get to wonder nervously if Jared will go method to play Hefner, just like he did to play The Joker and Mark David Chapman. I for one think he will do an amazing job and i’m excited to see this movie!
Let us know what you think of the casting of Jared Leto as Hugh Hefner in the comments below.
