Hollywood never misses a beat, and mere days after Playboy creator and smoking jacket aficianado Hugh Hefner passed away, a long-developing biopic has taken a big step forward. For years Brett Ratner has been wanting to do a film on Hefner, and now today comes word that he's found the man to play him: Jared Leto.
Ratner and his RatPac Entertainment banner picked up the rights a few years ago, but this is the first big move into making the film a reality. A while back it was Robert Downey Jr. who was being sought for the role, and was even endorsed by Hef himself, but it never went anywhere. Other attempts to tell Hef's story have been in the works at other studios, including one penned by Peter Morgan (The Queen), but they appear to have been shelved.
As for how Leto became involved, it just so happens he and Ratner are old buddies. The director told THR...
"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."
We'll see how far this goes, and if Leto goes super method like he reportedly did for Suicide Squad. I imagine it would be a lot more fun doing that as Hefner than as the Joker. For now, we'll see Leto next in Blade Runner 2049 due out this week.
