Last week, Hugh Hefner died, leaving a long, complicated, and troublesome legacy behind. This week, Jared Leto has signed on to play him in a biopic. Life comes at you, and movie theaters, fast.
Marston Hefner's father is Hugh Hefner. His mother is 1989's Playmate of the Year. Still, the kid had a fairly normal childhood.
The news comes by way of The Hollywood Reporter, which notes that the biopic has been in gestation for some time, with attached director/producer Brett Ratner trying to get the film made since 2007—at one point, Robert Downey, Jr. was going to play the role.
But it is now 2017, and Jared Leto—described beautifully by writer Emma Stefansky as "The actor who seems to be in a constant state of At It Again"—is taking on what might be one of the more fraught biopics in recent memory.
There's simply so much that can go wrong in a Hefner biopic. But don't worry, Jared Leto is aware. Woke, even.
"When he heard I got the rights to Hef's story," Ratner told THR, "he told me, 'I want to play him. I want to understand him.' "
Jared Leto, America's perpetual Liberal Arts College Boyfriend, wants to understand one of the most problematic men in American history. This is weird considering his Suicide Squad performance as a Joker who was already pretty good at disrespecting women, but whatever. Mostly we're curious about how Leto's notorious penchant for competitive method acting will play out in the production of this movie. For the love of Blade Runner, please be nice to your coworkers, Mr. Leto.