Jessica Biel is going inside the Playboy Mansion. The actress has joined the cast of Playmates, an upcoming film from Searchlight Pictures. She’ll play the wife of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Variety first reported. Biel plays a former Playboy Playmate who went on to marry Hugh Hefner. The character is fictional and isn’t based on any of Hefner’s three real-life wives. That gives Biel room to build her own version of a woman at the center of one of pop culture’s most famous addresses.
Playmates Cast: Bill Pullman, Lily-Rose Depp and Indiana Elle
Biel joins a cast that already has some big names:
- Bill Pullman as Hugh Hefner
- Lily-Rose Depp as Anna, an aspiring Playmate of the Month
- Indiana Elle as Elle, the film’s 13-year-old lead
- Jessica Biel as Hefner’s wife, a former Playmate
Playmates is a coming-of-age story set in Los Angeles. It follows Elle, a 13-year-old girl who thinks of the Playboy Mansion as her second home. She befriends Anna, one of seven hopefuls competing to be named Playmate of the Month. The two help each other go after what they want. For Elle, that means growing up in a world that feels both familiar and very unusual. Playmates is the first feature that Lorraine Nicholson has written and directed, and it’s a personal one. The film is inspired by her own experiences growing up around the Playboy Mansion. That inside view could set Playmates apart from earlier Hefner stories, which mostly focused on the man himself. This one sees the mansion through a child’s eyes.
Playmates adds to a busy stretch for Biel. She recently executive produced and starred in Prime Video’s limited series The Better Sister opposite Elizabeth Banks. She also stars with John Cena in Matchbox: The Movie for Apple TV.
