Jessica Biel has joined Playmates, and her role is already giving the Searchlight Pictures project another layer of intrigue. Biel will play the fictional wife of Hugh Hefner, a former Playboy Playmate, in Lorraine Nicholson’s upcoming coming-of-age drama set around the Playboy Mansion.
The important detail is that Biel is not playing one of Hefner’s real-life wives. The character is fictional, which gives Nicholson room to build a story without turning the film into a conventional Hefner biopic disguised as a drama.
Playmates centers on 13-year-old Elle, played by Indiana Elle, a self-assured teenager who considers the Playboy Mansion almost like a second home. She meets Anna, played by Lily-Rose Depp, who is one of several women hoping to become Playmate of the Month. The two form an unlikely friendship, with each trying to help the other get what she wants.
Then you add Biel’s character to that mix.
Her casting places another adult perspective inside the mansion, one that is tied directly to Hefner but is not borrowed from his actual personal history. Bill Pullman is playing Hefner, and the contrast between his fictional on-screen marriage and the younger characters at the center of the story should create some interesting tension.
What makes Playmates different from a standard celebrity-centered drama is that Nicholson is drawing from her own childhood experiences around the Playboy Mansion. The project marks her feature writing and directing debut, so the movie is not simply borrowing the mansion as a flashy backdrop. The setting connects directly to the filmmaker’s own memories.
That gives Biel’s casting some added interest because her character can function as part of the world Nicholson remembers rather than simply existing to deliver exposition about Hefner.
The role also marks another major film appearance for Biel after a period where she has spent more time in television. She has remained active as an executive producer and actor, and she recently appeared in The Better Sister. She is also part of Matchbox: The Movie, giving her another high-profile project arriving around the same period.
Still, Playmates is the more curious choice.
The film is not presenting Hefner’s mansion as a simple fantasy playground, even though the premise naturally includes the magazine culture and celebrity mythology surrounding it. The story instead looks at the place through the eyes of a young girl and the relationships she forms there.
That perspective could keep the movie from becoming a straightforward recreation of Playboy history. It also means Biel’s character has the chance to become more complicated than the title alone might suggest.
Lily-Rose Depp is also producing the movie, while the cast includes Pullman, Indiana Elle and now Biel. Searchlight has acquired the project, with production planned in Los Angeles.
Nicholson has an unusual amount of personal material to draw from, and that could make Playmates feel less like a glossy period piece and more like a coming-of-age story that happens to take place inside one of the most recognizable private spaces in pop culture.
As for Jessica Biel, playing a fictional former Playmate who is married to Hugh Hefner is certainly one way to return to the big-screen conversation. The interesting part will be seeing how much of that character belongs to the mansion, and how much belongs to Nicholson’s own story.
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