Jared Leto to Play Hugh Hefner in Biopic

UPDATE: Playboy has put the Hugh Hefner movie on hold after director Brett Ratner was accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct, per The Wrap. We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner. We find this kind of behavior completely unacceptable, a Playboy rep told the outlet. We are putting all further development of our projects with [Ratners production company] RatPac Entertainment on hold until we are able to review the situation further.

****

Jared Leto will play Hugh Hefner in a Brett Ratner-directed biopic about the Playboy founder, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

My goal is to do the motion picture as an event, Ratner said.

A Hefner biopic has been in development since 2007. Initially Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment owned the rights to the project; Robert Downey Jr. and Hugh Jackman were reportedly possible choices for the Hefner role. The rights later went to producer Jerry Weintraub for Warner Bros., andWedding Crashers director David Dobkin was in talks to take on the project.

When Weintraub died, Ratners RatPac Entertainment took over the biopic rights. In recent years there has been plenty of interest and much conversation about doing a feature film based on my life, Hefner said in a statement in April. I have always believed that when the timing was truly right, the perfect creative partners would come together for this project. I believe weve found those partners in Brett Ratner and RatPac Entertainment.

Hefner died last month at age 91, and Leto never got a chance to meet the Playboy founder. Theres enough footage on Hef out there that Jared will be able to get as much information as he wants, Ratner said. Jared is an old friend, the director added. When he heard I got the rights to Hefs story, he told me, I want to play him. I want to understand him. And I really believe Jared can do it. Hes one of the great actors of today.