"Playboy" (Hugh Hefner Biopic)
 

I would be excited about this if anyone other than Brett Ratner were directing it...



LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner's wild life is being turned into a feature film that will look at his social activism as well as his sexual exploits, Daily Variety reported on Monday.

"Playboy" will be directed by Brett Ratner, the filmmaker behind the "Rush Hour" movies, the trade paper said. It is being produced for Universal Pictures by Brian Grazer, who won the best picture Academy Award for "A Beautiful Mind."

Hefner, 81, who sold his life rights to Grazer several years ago, approved the duo's vision for the project last week, Daily Variety said.

The paper said a script is being written now.

"Hef came from a puritanical upbringing and reinvented himself to be the godfather of the sexual revolution," Daily Variety quoted Ratner as saying. "He broke all kinds of taboos, especially in sexuality. I want to show it all, from the First Amendment (guaranteeing free speech) struggles to his first orgy to the stroke in the 1980s that almost killed him."

Hefner founded Playboy in 1953, turning a $600 investment and a picture of Marilyn Monroe into one of the most successful publishing empires in history. He coaxed along the sexual revolution of the 1960s and used the pages of his magazine to write lengthy articles fighting censorship and promoting various other libertarian causes.

Playboy magazine is owned by Playboy Enterprises Inc. Universal Pictures is a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal Inc.

Hmmm, The People vs. Hugh Hefner, sounds like an original idea; and hey, if you can't get Milos Forman, Brett Ratner is just as good. :sarcasm:

Well, I was one of the few people who enjoyed X3, but this is bad.

Well, I'm just thinking of Brett Ratner's house from Entourage. From that, I'm pretty sure that he has a nice vision of how the mansion will look.

Brett Ratner's doing what? :whofart:

Ugh. X3. Thanks for the reminder. What would be better would be a retrospective documentary style talking with former Playmates about their experience within the Playboy empire instead of a straight up biopic.

Brett Ratner's a hack. No way I'm going to see this, or even bother to comment on an internet forum on it.

Whoops! Too late!

I don't know, what film can he make this one practically a shot for shot remake of?

Ratner has a chance of churning out something decent if he uses the same "skills" he used for The Family Man and Red Dragon. It won't be anything ground breaking, me thinks, but it just might be more passable than the other crap he's made.

Yeah I honestly don't get the Brett Ratner hate. Red Dragon was very well done.

Johnny Drama..er.. I mean Kevin Dillon for Hugh Hefner! ;)

Or at least Jeremy Piven

:lol:

Well, at least this isn't a subject I really care if Ratner messes up. It's just gonna be a big budget movie where the most interesting things are the sets.

HaHa! This film sounds terrible. Not as bad as Ridley Scott doing a film based on Monopoly but it's up there.

I do. Ever listened to a B-Rat commentary? And all the stories about him being a ladies man in H'wood. Plus the comic book people hate him for screwing up X-Men- and those folks are unforgiving. So I can see where all the haters are coming from- just something about the guy. And he's not exactly one of the more cerebral directors. Kurosawa, Kubrick, Bunuel.....Ratner. But I did enjoy Red Dragon.

Michael Bay and Brett Ratner are in class of there own and it's not a good one at that.

Totally agree.

X3 wasn't as atrocious as many make it out to be either.

I like Red Dragon but Before The Sunset and X3 were way to uneven an mediocre for me. I think the end of X3 is one of ther worst endings to a comic book trilogy ever.

I'll take a Michael Bay film over a Brett Ratner one everyday of the week. Michael Bay is still one of the best directors at huge over the top blockbusters.

I liked it the first time when it was called Manhunter. Other than some slight changes, Red Dragon was essentially a tracer's version of that film.

Hef: Unauthorized (1999) MOW

I would suggest Heath Ledger.

I bet it'll be PG-13.