Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Pullman are heading into one of Hollywood’s most famous settings for Playmates, a new coming-of-age film set around the Playboy Mansion.
Searchlight Pictures has acquired the project, which will mark Lorraine Nicholson’s feature directorial debut. Nicholson also wrote the screenplay, drawing loose inspiration from her own childhood experiences around the mansion.
The story centers on Elle, a 13-year-old played by Indiana Elle who considers the Playboy Mansion something of a second home. Her familiar surroundings take on a new dimension when she meets Anna, played by Depp, one of seven women hoping to become Playmate of the Month.
Despite their different ages and ambitions, Elle and Anna develop an unlikely friendship. Each has something she wants, with Anna pursuing a magazine cover while Elle has her sights set on a boy. Their partnership becomes the heart of the film as they try to help one another reach those goals.
Pullman will take on the role of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, placing one of the mansion’s most recognizable figures within Nicholson’s coming-of-age story.
The project brings an especially personal connection for Nicholson. The daughter of Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard, she spent time at the Playboy Mansion while growing up and has used elements of those experiences as inspiration for the screenplay.
Playmates will be Nicholson’s first feature as a director, although she previously wrote and directed the short film Life Boat, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Depp is also taking a role behind the camera as a producer. She joins Alex Orlovsky and Duncan Montgomery of High Frequency Entertainment in producing the film.
The project adds another distinctive role to Depp’s growing filmography while giving Pullman the task of portraying one of the most recognizable figures in American publishing and pop culture.
With a famous Hollywood setting, an unusual friendship at its center and a filmmaker drawing from personal experience, Playmates is shaping up as a different kind of story about life inside the orbit of the Playboy Mansion.
