Johnny Depp Set for Hefner Role?  7/2/05

Johnny Depp is leading the race to portray Playboy boss Hugh Hefner in a new biopic about the magazine publisher's extraordinary life.

Top producer Brian Glazer is working on a script for the project at Universal and Hefner likes his choice for a lead.

He says, "We've got a first draft of the screenplay, they've talked about Johnny Depp as a possibility.

"The first order of business is to finish the script and get a good director on board. I like Johnny Depp."

Hefner admits he's sorry the film wasn't made 20 or 30 years ago because he'd have loved James Stewart of Henry Fonda to portray him.