Thursday
12Jun2008
Hefner Wants to Give Downey the Keys to the Mansion
Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 12:27AM 
Several weeks ago, it was
widely reported that
Robert Downey Jr. might play the legendary
Hugh Hefner in an upcoming biopic, although I
thought Marvel genius Stan Lee had a better Hef screen test in Iron Man. Now
those reports appear to have a lot of merit, with no less an authority than Hugh
Hefner breaking down the future of the project. The grand old man of smut told
Coming Soon,
"I guess the next big thing we're looking
forward to is the movie and we're hoping that Robert Downey Jr. will be
portraying me,"
Hefner also eliminated doubt about who would be
directing, claiming that
Brett Ratner is the man for the job - terrible
news for all of us on the surface - and that the plan is to get the cameras
rolling by the end of the year.
Because this is the summer of Robert Downey Jr., the
casting is both timely and shrewd. Hefner's life story can really only be told
once, you'd think. After he passes away, it'll be difficult to have it make as
much sense. In a lot of ways, this film should've happened already. But let's
not forget the kind of icon we're dealing with here: You can't just cast, say,
Jamie Kennedy and hope for the best. Man, that movie would suck, right?
So you get an artist in full bloom with Downey, who has
followed the Depp business model pretty well so far, and you get the heightened
star power latching onto a project that is better with him than anyone else who
comes to mind. Honestly, can you believe Leonardo DiCaprio was once considered
the shoo-in? Downey is a much easier sell.
Now if we could just find a way to keep Brett Ratner
occupied until after the shoot is over...
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