WireImage/ Mike Pont(LOS ANGELES) — Oscar-winner Jared Leto is going from Blade Runner to ground breaker: The Hollywood Reporter says he’ll play Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in a biopic.
Producer Brett Ratner was close with the cultural icon, who passed away last week at 91, and hoped to direct the project as far back as 2007.
Ratner tells the trade, “Jared is an old friend. When he heard I got the rights to Hef’s story, [Leto] 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.”
Says Ratner, who is also producing a remake of Hef’s old TV chat show, Playboy After Dark, “My goal is to do the motion picture as an event.”
Leto will next be seen on screen this weekend in Blade Runner 2049.
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