![Hugh Hefner2nd Annual Leather Meets Lace event to benefit Jenny McCarthy's charity Generation Rescue held at the Playboy MansionLos Angeles, California - 04.10.08Credit: (Mandatory): Rachel Worth / WENN(Newscom TagID: wennphotostwo017748) [Photo via Newscom]wennphotostwo017748_leather_meets_lace_32_wenn2107129.jpg](http://movieline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/120718_heff-90x120.jpg?w=120&h=120&crop=1)
Also in Wednesday morning's round-up of news briefs, Kino Lorber Films picks up a Tribeca Film Festival doc that spotlights the culture wars in the Texas school system. Juliette Lewis is in talks to star opposite Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in an upcoming pic, while Diane Kruger is set for a role of a 19th century Kentucky stepmom to a U.S. president.
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You've been hearing about it for years, and at last, the fabled Hugh Hefner biopic that will never get made has moved from Universal to Warner Bros. The one and only Jerry Weintraub will produce, at least until he won't. "While Universal had filmmakers like Brett Ratner attached at one time or another and actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Hugh Jackman mentioned as possibles to play Hef, the project languished," Mike Fleming writes at ML's sister site Deadline. "Wentraub would not disclose what part of Hefner’s life he will cover, and he denied that Harry Potter scribe Steve Kloves is being talked to as a potential screenwriter." Finally! We're getting somewhere. [Deadline]
I can kind of see a resemblance between Demi Moore and feminist activist/journalist Gloria Steinem, whom the former Mrs. Kutcher has been tapped to play in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Lovelace. But at this point the porn biopic -- the one starring Amanda Seyfried as Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace, to feature a cameo by James Franco as Hugh Hefner -- feels like it's turning into a bizarrely distracting hit parade-sideshow of stars/names playing real life Lovelace acquaintances. (Further evidence, just announced over the wires: Eric Roberts as... lie detector test administrator Nat Laurendi! For reals.)
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Here's one way to deflect attention from NYU GradeGate: Variety reports that James Franco is in talks to play Playboy impresario Hugh Hefner in Lovelace, the porn biopic starring Amanda Seyfried as the titular XXX actress Linda Lovelace, of Deep Throat fame. Unfortunately -- or fortunately? -- Franco's role would be limited to a one-day cameo, which sounds like something along the lines of his blink-and-you'll-miss-it Green Hornet appearance. The film is currently shooting in Los Angeles. [Variety]
