Jessica Biel joins Searchlight's 'Playmates' as Hugh Hefner's wife

Mixed · 2Jessica Biel has joined the cast of Searchlight Pictures' upcoming film "Playmates". 1 2 Left · 1She will star alongside previously announced cast members Lily-Rose Depp, Bill Pullman and Indiana Elle. 1 Mixed · 2Biel will play a wife of Hugh Hefner, who is played by Pullman, and a former Playmate herself. The character is fictional; Variety notes Hefner married multiple times in real life, while Deadline says it was told she is not modelled on any of his three wives specifically. 1 2

Mixed · 2The film is the feature writing and directorial debut of Lorraine Nicholson, and is inspired by her experiences growing up at the Playboy Mansion. Deadline reports it adapts her own original script. 1 2 Mixed · 2The official logline describes Elle, a thirteen-year-old know-it-all who considers the Playboy Mansion her second home, meeting Anna (Depp), one of seven hopefuls vying to be Playmate of the Month; the two form an unlikely friendship and try to help each other get a magazine cover and a boy. 1 2 Mixed · 2Alex Orlovsky and Duncan Montgomery of High Frequency Entertainment produce, as does Depp. Searchlight vice president of production Richard Ruiz and creative executive Cornelia Burleigh oversee the project; Deadline adds they report to Heads of Production and Development DanTram Nguyen and Katie Goodson-Thomas. 1 2

Centre · 1Deadline says Searchlight announced its acquisition of the Playboy-themed package late last month. 2 Mixed · 2Both outlets note Biel's Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated work on "The Sinner" and her recent series "The Better Sister"; Deadline adds she next stars opposite John Cena in "Matchbox: The Movie", streaming on Apple TV on Friday. She is represented by UTA, LBI Entertainment and Yorn Levine Barnes. 1 2