UPDATE: Jared Leto’s representative tells THR that the actor “is not and was not attached to a Brett Ratner-directed Hugh Hefner film, nor will he be working with him in the future.” The original report follows:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Playboy Enterprises has put all its business dealings with producer/director Brett Ratner (Hercules, Rush Hour) on hold following sexual harassment allegations from six different women against him in the Los Angeles Times. This means Ratner’s Hugh Hefner biopic, starring Academy Award winner Jared Leto, may be off the table.
“We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner,” said a Playboy Enterprises spokesperson. “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 biopic would chronicle the legendary mogul who founded Playboy magazine in 1953 and turned it into a veritable empire with mens’ clubs all over the world, while at the same time leading an envious bachelor lifestyle into his 80s. Ratner also wanted to produce a rebooted version of Playboy After Dark, the late-1960s talk show that Hefner hosted. Hefner passed recently at the age of 91.
Ratner has been attached to direct a Hefner biopic (with Hef’s blessing) since 2007, originally for Imagine Entertainment with Robert Downey Jr. onboard to star. When the rights lapsed, a new project was announced in 2013 from producer Jerry Weintraub, screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen) and Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin. After Weintraub’s death, Ratner snapped the rights back for his own RatPac Entertainment.
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