Jessica Biel is heading to the Playboy Mansion — fictionally speaking. The actress has joined the cast of Playmates, the upcoming Searchlight Pictures feature that offers an unusual coming-of-age lens on life inside Hugh Hefner's infamous estate. Biel will play a former Playmate who becomes the wife of Hefner himself, a character that is entirely fictional despite Hefner having been married three times in real life.
A Star-Studded Ensemble Takes Shape
Biel joins a cast already generating considerable buzz. Lily-Rose Depp stars as Anna, one of seven young women competing to be named Playmate of the Month, and is also serving as a producer on the project. Bill Pullman takes on the role of Hefner, who died in 2017 aged 91. Indiana Elle, known for her role in The Housemaid, plays Elle, the story's thirteen-year-old protagonist, a self-described know-it-all who regards the Playboy Mansion as something of a second home.
The unlikely friendship that develops between Elle and Anna — one desperate for a magazine cover, the other for a boy — forms the emotional spine of the film. It is a premise that sounds deceptively simple, but in the hands of first-time feature director Lorraine Nicholson, it carries real personal weight. Nicholson has said she was inspired to tell the story by her own experiences of growing up at the Playboy Mansion.
Nicholson's directorial debut draws on her own childhood memories of the Playboy Mansion, lending the project an intimacy that sets it apart from more sensationalised takes on the Hefner era.
Alex Orlovsky and Duncan Montgomery are producing via High Frequency Entertainment, with Searchlight vice president of production Richard Ruiz and creative executive Cornelia Burleigh overseeing the project for the studio. Searchlight announced its acquisition of the film last month.
Biel's Busy Autumn
The Playmates announcement comes at a notably active moment for Biel, who is already in the midst of promoting another project. She stars alongside John Cena in Matchbox: The Movie, which begins streaming on Apple TV from 9 October. The film had its New York premiere on 5 October, where Biel walked the red carpet with co-stars including Sam Richardson, Teyonah Parris and Arturo Castro.
Her husband Justin Timberlake was present at the event but opted not to join her on the red carpet, instead attending in a supporting capacity alongside one of the couple's children and Biel's niece. The premiere came just a day after the pair celebrated their fourteenth wedding anniversary, with Timberlake sharing a tribute on Instagram describing Biel as 'my favourite person in every lifetime.'
'Happy anniversary my love,' Biel wrote in her own tribute to Timberlake, as the couple marked fourteen years of marriage the day before her New York premiere.
A Career Behind the Camera Too
It is worth noting that Biel's involvement in Playmates is not simply another acting credit. Through her Iron Ocean production banner, she has executive produced a string of projects including Cruel Summer, Limetown, Candy and The Sinner — the latter earning her both an Emmy and a Golden Globe nomination. Her instinct for interesting material, particularly stories centred on complex women, makes her casting in Playmates feel very much in keeping with the projects she has championed off-screen.
With Matchbox: The Movie landing on Apple TV imminently and Playmates building momentum, Biel is having something of a renaissance — and on her own terms.
