Tom Hiddleston To Play British Porn God Paul Raymond In Biopic

America has Hugh Hefner and (shudder) Larry Flynt. But when it came to
soft-core publications, the Brits often turned to Paul Raymond,
publisher of such skin magazines as Men Only, Escort, Club International
and Mayfair. Though he passed away in March 2008, Raymond’s relatives
have been fighting to tell the man’s story on film – and running into
various obstacles. One might have cleared, though, now that Avengers and War Horse star Tom Hiddleston has agreed to play Raymond on screen in a planned biopic.



The news is part of a blind item in the UK Daily Mail
(which means we should take it with a grain of salt), but Raymond’s own
son, Howard, confirms that Hiddleston has agreed to play the main part
in the film. The biopic will be based on the book The King of Soho, a nickname Raymond acquired because of all the property he snatched up in the ritzy London neighborhood.

‘We’ve waited a long time to get the right person and in
Tom we finally have. It’s a difficult role, not because he is playing my
father but because he is in every scene in the film,” Howard Raymond
says. “We have a great script and some time in the next year we will be
going into production.”

The Daily Mail says Raymond has been battling with producers of a rival
biopic, which has led to several delays in getting his own film off the
ground. But casting Hiddleston has to be a solid first step toward
reaching theaters.



It’s also a bold step for Hiddleston, who drastically expanded his audience base with a part in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse
and, of course, his villainous role as Loki in various Marvel Studios
films. He’s an excellent actor, and we have no doubt he’ll crush the
part of Paul Raymond. But we want to see him back in the tights for Thor 2 and possibly the Avengers sequel soon after.