ComingSoon has an interesting interview with the key players working on the Hugh M. Hefner biopic. Hef pronounces he likes the idea of being played by Robert Downey Jr., and director Brett Ratner reports the movie will focus on the early days of the Playboy empire, from the magazine's launch in the early 50s to the world domination of the Playboy lifestyle in the 70s, emphasizing the pivotal role Hef and Playboy played in the sexual revolution.
"CS: Can you talk about how women have embraced the Playboy brand and the Girls have become the face of 'Playboy' as much as you have been?
Hefner: "... [One] of the hurtful times for me was the period in which women's lib found an anti-sexual element that they played out with great success in the media that created the notion that somehow Playboy and other things of a sexual nature similar to Playboy were somehow exploitive or anti-women. If anyone knows anything about Playboy, [he/she] knows the good fights that we have fought from the very early days, certainly the Playboy philosophy and the Playboy foundations in changing the very laws related to abortion rights and birth control rights and women's liberation in many ways. So I've felt from the very beginning that the sexual revolution that Playboy had a part in was for everyone. It was not a conspiracy to exploit women. It was for personal freedom for everybody."
Related: Gay Talese's Thy Neighbor's Wife offers a compelling account of the rise of Playboy Inc., and Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream, a biography of Hef by Steven Watts, will be published this fall by Wiley.
