Originally published April 9, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
The life of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is heading to the big screen courtesy of Brett Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment, with Ratner spearheading development on a biopic which will “explore Hefner’s metamorphosis from a dreamer raised in a conservative Methodist household, to an icon of the sexual revolution” following the launch of Playboy magazine in 1953.
“Hugh Hefner started a sexual revolution from behind the walls of his legendary mansion by using the pages of Playboy Magazine and his own infamous lifestyle to build a global empire that included publishing, clubs, casinos and television networks,” said Ratner. “Whether young people today read or care about Playboy, this was a guy who had a dream and changed the world. Hefner cared about civil rights, women’s rights, the preservation of the arts, jazz…his magazine featured interviews with important leaders from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. And with one stroke of genius he changed sexuality in America.”
“In recent years there has been plenty of interest and much conversation about doing a feature film based on my life,” added Hefner. “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.”
Ratner was previously attached to a Hefner biopic that was set up at Universal by Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer as a musical, with the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Hugh Jackman linked to the role of the Playboy founder.
