Black silk pajamas, a red smoking jacket, and a sailing captain's hat—three things that irrevocably scream Hugh Hefner. At age 91, when Hefner passed away due to natural causes, less than a month after his death, RatPac Entertainment announced a biopic on the Playboy bunny mogul.It's not surprising a film about Hefner would be made with the resurgence of biopics, such as Bohemian Rhapsody about Freddie Mercury, Rocketman about Elton John, Elvis about Elvis Presley, and most recently, I Wanna Dance With Somebody about Whitney Houston.So, when director Brett Ratner announced his plans for his media company, RatPac Entertainment, to produce a Hefner biopic directed by himself, this wasn't shocking news. And when Ratner announced Jared Leto as the actor to play Hefner, fans of the actor and late mogul were excited and eagerly awaiting more information about the film.
Jared Leto As Hugh Hefner and The Film's Early Development
Ratner told The Hollywood Reporter , "Jared is an old friend. 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."
The Hefner biopic has been in early development with RatPac Entertainment. Ratner has been set on being the producer and director of the film since 2007. It was initially set up with Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, and Robert Downey Jr. was slated to play Hef.
However, the rights expired, and producer Jerry Weintraub (Ocean's Eleven, HBO's Westworld) purchased the rights for Warner Bros. But when Weintraub passed away, Ratner quickly bought the rights for his own company RatPac Entertainment and said, "My goal is to do the motion picture as an event."
For Hefner's 91st birthday, Ratner premiered Amazon's docuseries American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story at the Playboy mansion and invited Jared Leto.
Ratner's goal was to introduce Leto and Hef, so the two could get to know one another. Also, so Leto could meet the man he was set to portray on the big screen. However, due to Hefner's declining health, he wasn't taking guests that day. But Ratner wasn't worried, "There's enough footage on Hef out there that Jared will be able to get as much information as he wants," he says.
However, Hefner gave his blessing for a film about himself and his life before his passing.
While speaking to Variety, the media mogul said, "In recent years, there has been plenty of interest and much conversation about doing a feature film based on my life. I have always believed that when the timing was truly right, the perfect creative partners would come together for this project. I believe we've found those partners in Brett Ratner and RatPac Entertainment. I'm very much looking forward to this collaboration."
Is Jared Leto Still Playing Hugh Hefner?
After not much news on the film, Leto told Deadline , through representatives, "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."
Furthermore, Ratner was accused by actress Natasha Henstridge and other women of harassment and misconduct. Henstirdige said, concerning Ratner, "I don't know how different I would be today—less hardened, less jaded, more trusting, all those things—if it never happened."
When the story of Henstridge and the women broke, Playboy Enterprises, a media group founded by Hefner, released a statement. "We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner. 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."
Is The Biopic Going On Without Jared Leto?
With Leto coming out and saying he was never attached to the project, Playboy Enterprises decided to halt the project after Warner Bros. announced that it was aware of the allegations and is "reviewing the situation."
After the news broke on the claims against Ratner, many were happy to hear the film was being put on pause. Some fans of Leto's were happy to know he would not be working with Ratner on a film about a sex media mogul. In, what turned out to be a dark turn of events, others found the irony of Ratner doing a film about Hefner with these claims.
With the allegations, it seems extremely unlikely that Ratner, someone accused of harassment towards women, would be at the helm of a film about Hefner. There is still no word on whether Playboy Enterprises will continue the project with a different director.
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