Brooks Nader suited up as a Playboy Bunny for the upcoming film “Playmates.”
The model and “Baywatch” actress, 29, wore the full iconic costume — black bodysuit, bow tie, bunny ears and fluffy tail — during a five-hour shoot Wednesday at a Beverly Hills mansion. The project is directed by Lorraine Nicholson, daughter of Jack Nicholson.
Details of Nader’s specific role remain under wraps. The casting lands amid fresh controversy surrounding the movie, which has already drawn public criticism from Hugh Hefner’s widow.
Crystal Hefner, 40, who was married to the Playboy founder from 2012 until his death in 2017 at age 91, has been vocal in her opposition to the film’s nostalgic framing. She specifically targeted Jessica Biel, who is set to play Hugh’s wife, in an Instagram direct message last month.
“I was actually his wife, and I experienced sexual, emotional, financial and physical abuse in that relationship,” Crystal wrote to Biel, 44.
“Many other women have come forward with allegations of rape, coercion, drugging and exploitation as well,” she continued.
Crystal pressed her case further, asking 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.”
The “Girl Next Door” alum has made harrowing claims about her time in the Playboy world, including allegations that she witnessed her late husband force women into horrific sex acts, including incest. She recently said that if she “could go back,” she never would have married Hugh.
“I came from a broken home. I didn’t have a father,” she shared. “And I know now that Hef chose people he could easily manipulate, like that was it.”
Nader herself has previously engaged with Playboy imagery in a very different context. For Halloween, she re-created multiple Playboy covers, channeling Pamela Anderson and Anna Nicole Smith from their past shoots for the famous magazine. That personal project now precedes her professional involvement in a film that dramatizes the very world those covers represented.
“Playmates” began filming in Los Angeles in October. The movie is loosely based on Lorraine Nicholson’s own experience growing up at the Playboy Mansion. The story follows two playmates at the mansion: Indiana Elle as Elle and Lily-Rose Depp as Anna. Bill Pullman is set to portray Hugh Hefner.
The production arrives at a moment when Hefner’s legacy faces renewed scrutiny. Crystal’s public campaign against the film represents one of the most direct challenges yet to Hollywood’s tendency to romanticize the Playboy era, even as that era’s survivors continue to come forward with allegations of systemic abuse.
Nader’s five-hour shoot Wednesday placed her in the middle of this unresolved cultural reckoning, costumed in the very symbol that once marketed an empire now accused of widespread exploitation.
Production on “Playmates” continues in Los Angeles.
