Hefner Wants to Give Downey the Keys to the Mansion

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...