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Jared Leto Set To Play Hugh Hefner In Brett Ratner-Directed Biopic
Ratner and Leto at the premiere of Amazon's "American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story" (Photo by Charles Gallay/Getty Images for Amazon)
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In the ultimate hat trick of "men you wouldn't want to be stuck in an elevator with," actor Jared Leto will play recently deceased Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner in a biopic to be helmed by enfant terrible director Brett Ratner. (Enfant terrible is French for "man who seems exhausting, but his movies make money.")
Leto was recently cast in the Hefner biopic, which Ratner has been trying to make happen for over a decade, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Apparently, Leto and Ratner are "old friends," which...checks out. The pair has graced the hallowed ground of the Playboy Mansion together for the premiere of Amazon’s American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story last April. Ratner even tried to introduce Leto to Hef at one point, but the Playboy founder's declining health made it impossible.
When Ratner acquired the rights to the Hefner biopic after producer Jerry Weintraub's death in 2015, Leto lobbied for the role, which was at one point going to be played by Robert Downey Jr. (Let us pause and take a moment to mourn the passage of the RDJ-as-Hef biopic that never was, and never will be.)
There's no word yet as to how many of Hefner's 91 years Ratner will chronicle in his film, but expect to see lots of moody close-up shots of Leto, surrounded by interchangeable bikini'ed girls who don't merit character names, slowly exhaling pipe smoke and looking pensive—or as pensive as it's possible to look in an open robe and a captain's hat.
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