Brooks Nader suited up in the full Playboy Bunny costume — black bodysuit, bow tie, ears and tail — to film scenes for the upcoming movie “Playmates” at a Beverly Hills mansion on Wednesday. The “Baywatch” actress spent five hours on set for the project, which is directed by Jack Nicholson’s daughter, Lorraine Nicholson. Details of Nader’s role in the film have not been disclosed.
“Playmates” began filming in Los Angeles in October. The movie is loosely based on Lorraine Nicholson’s own childhood at the Playboy Mansion and follows two fictional playmates, Elle (Indiana Elle) and Anna (Lily-Rose Depp). Bill Pullman plays Hugh Hefner, the Playboy founder who died in 2017 at age 91. Jessica Biel has been cast as Hefner’s wife.
That casting choice drew a direct and pointed response from Crystal Hefner, Hugh Hefner’s widow, who was married to him from 2012 to 2017. In an Instagram message sent to Biel last month, Crystal wrote that she wanted Biel to “reconsider” taking the role.
“I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in that relationship,” Crystal wrote. “Many other women have come forward with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation as well.”
Crystal, 40, asked that “everyone involved in this film takes the time to listen to the women who lived it before helping Hollywood turn it back into nostalgia.”
She has previously made disturbing claims about what she witnessed during her time with Hefner, including that he forced women into sex acts involving incest. Speaking with Page Six recently, Crystal said that if she “could go back,” she never would have married him.
“I came from a broken home. I didn’t have a father,” she said. “And I know now that Hef chose people he could easily manipulate, like that was it.”
Nader has also recently recreated classic Playboy magazine covers for Halloween, dressing as both Pamela Anderson and Anna Nicole Smith in past shoots for the publication.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
