Update, 11/2: Jared Leto announced he’s not playing Hugh Hefner in the Brett Ratner-directed biopic and denied any involvement with the film, refuting reports from last month that said he was cast as the Playboy founder. The actor's statement arrives shortly after the director was accused of sexual harassment or misconduct by six women, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, who shared their accounts in a Los Angeles Times piece published yesterday.
Leto’s rep told Deadline: “Jared Leto is not and was not attached to a Brett Ratner-directed Hugh Hefner film, nor will he be working with him in the future. Earlier reports were incorrect and not confirmed by his representatives.”
Playboy Enterprises also announced it’s stepping away from the Hefner biopic after Rater’s allegations were reported. “We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner,” a spokesperson from the company said in a statement. “We find this kind of behavior completely unacceptable. We are putting all further development of our projects with RatPac Entertainment on hold until we are able to review the situation further.”
Ratner’s lawyer Martin Singer “categorically” disputed the allegations on the director's behalf. “I have represented Mr. Ratner for two decades, and no woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment,” Singer told the LA Times. “Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client.”
Original story, 10/3: Jared Leto has been cast to play Hugh Hefner in a biopic.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) will direct the planned project about the Playboy founder, who died last week at 91. He's reportedly had his sights set on a biopic of Hefner since 2007, and the film is now in early development at Ratner's production company.
"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."
Leto's casting has been in the works for a while – back in April, Ratner invited Leto 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 Leto 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. So here's the part where we all get to wonder nervously if Leto will go method to play Hef, just like he did to play The Joker.
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Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.
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