Jared Leto
Jared Leto denies any involvement in Brett Ratner’s biopic on the late Hugh Hefner. Pictured: Leto attends “Dallas Buyers Club” Premiere And Vanity Fair Award during The 8th Rome Film Festival at Auditorium Parco Della Musica on Nov. 9, 2013 in Rome, Italy. Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

Jared Leto recently denied any involvement in the upcoming Hugh Hefner biopic, that will be directed by Brett Ratner.

Leto’s rep released a statement on Wednesday denying reports that Leto will give life to the late Playboy found, Hefner, in the biopic. “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. Earlier reports were incorrect and not confirmed by his representatives,” the statement read.

According to a Playboy Enterprises spokesperson, the biopic has also been put on hold after Ratner was accused of multiple cases of sexual harassment and misconduct. “We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner. We find this kind of behavior 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,” the spokesperson said.

The Los Angeles Times published an article on Wednesday where six women against the 48-year-old director. Olivia Munn claimed that Ratner performed an incident act in front of her when she visited the set of “After the Sunset.”

Ratner’s attorney, Martin Singer, denied Munn’s allegations, as well as all of the allegations of five other women. “No woman has ever made a claim against him for sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. Furthermore, no woman has ever requested or received any financial settlement from my client,” he said.

Last month, Ratner himself told The Hollywood Reporter that Leto has signed on play Hefner in the biopic. “Jared is an old friend. When I heard he got the rights to Hef’s story, he told me, ‘I want to play him. I want to understand him.’ And I really believe Jared can do it. He’s one of the great actors of today,” he said.

Hefner died at the age of 91 one week prior to Ratner’s announcement. The founder of Playboy died from natural causes. Hefner’s son, Cooper, released a statement announcing his dad’s demise at that time. “He will be greatly missed by many, including his wife Crystal, my sister Christie, and my brothers David and Marston, all of us at Playboy Enterprises,” he said.

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