LOS ANGELES, Nov 2 — Jared Leto has denied ever being attached to Brett Ratner’s Playboy biopic, which is now on hold after the producer-director was accused of sexual harassment.
Yesterday, six women, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, came forward to detail experiences of alleged sexual harassment and misconduct by Ratner, who has denied the claims through his lawyer.
Previously, Ratner was quoted as telling The Hollywood Reporter that Leto was all set to play Playboy founder Hugh Hefner in the biopic.
“Jared is an old friend,” Ratner told THR. “When he heard I got the rights to Hef’s story, he told me, ‘I want to play him. I want to understand him.’ And I really believe Jared can do it. He’s one of the great actors of today.”
Now, Leto’s rep has issued a statement denying that this ever was the case.
“Jared Leto is not and was not attached to a Brett Ratner-directed Hugh Hefner film, nor will he be working with him in the future,” Leto’s rep told Deadline.
“Earlier reports were incorrect and not confirmed by his representatives.”
It also appears that the movie may never be made because Playboy Enterprises also issued a statement yesterday to say that its involvement is “on hold” with Ratner amid the scandal.
In a statement to E! News, Playboy Enterprises said, “We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner. We find this kind of behaviour completely unacceptable. We are putting all further development of our projects with RatPac Entertainment on hold until we are able to review the situation further.”
