The dominoes continue to fall in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal. With eyes now turning to Brett Ratner, with accusations from the likes of Olivia Munn, Natasha Henstridge and more against the director, there are moves by studios to distance themselves from him. And now Playboy Enterprises is shutting down development on his planned biopic of its founder Hugh Hefner.
Though Ratner had claimed to be working full speed ahead on the film, that is no longer the case. "We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner," a company spokesperson told Deadline. "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."
And while earlier reports had Ratner enthusiastically talking up how he would have "old friend" Jared Leto play the lead role, Leto's team is quickly shutting down any such ideas. "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," they said in a statement. "Earlier reports were incorrect and not confirmed by his representatives." It all sounds now like Ratner was trying to drum up fresh interest in the film by dropping Leto's name, and that – plus many of his past actions – is coming back to bite him.