Hulk Hogan Biopic with Chris Hemsworth Takes Unexpected Turn

A biopic about WWE legend Hulk Hogan, with Chris Hemsworth starring as the Hulkster, was in the works at Netflix. However, after the streaming service exited the project, it has been scrapped.

During an interview with Variety, Joker: Folie à Deux director Todd Phillips revealed he is no longer working on the project. While he did not reveal the reason, it does not sound like the project — in its current form — will happen.

“I love what we were trying to do, but that’s not going to come together for me,” he said.

This Hulk Hogan biopic was going to star Chris Hemsworth in the lead role. However, while the biopic does not appear to be happening, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of Artists Equity are also developing a movie about the WWE icon.

They are teaming up to make a movie titled Killing Gawker. It revolves around Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker in 2013. This was after Hogan sued for invasion of privacy due to them posting an inappropriate video of him with one of his wife’s friends. Hogan won the lawsuit in a $140 million verdict, resulting in the end of Gawker as a company.

Affleck and Damon were set to produce and star in the movie. The former is set to play Hogan, while the latter will play Peter Thiel. The movie would re-team them with Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant as well.

While Hogan himself is “indifferent” on Killing Gawker, he also is prepped to take legal action if anything hits below the belt. WWE fans will have to wait and see if the project is able to get off the ground.

Hulk Hogan is one of the most well-known WWF/WWE wrestlers ever. He is a six-time WWE world champion (including a 1,474-day reign as WWE Champion) and a two-time Royal Rumble winner. He has also been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, once individually in 2005 and as a part of the New World Order in 2020.

Chris Hemsworth is most associated with his role as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He started his career with a leading role in Home and Away for Seasons 17-20.

In 2009, Hemsworth made his big screen debut starring in J. J. Abrams’s Star Trek. Just a couple of years later, Hemsworth starred in the first Thor movie. He then had a string of high-profile projects — The Cabin in the Woods, The Avengers, and Snow White and the Huntsman — in 2012.

Since then, Hemsworth has led three more Thor movies and four total Avengers movies and appeared in other projects like Doctor Strange.

His non-MCU credits include Vacation, In the Heart of the Sea, 12 Strong, Ghostbusters, Bad Times at the El Royale, Men in Black: International, and Extraction.

More recently, Hemsworth starred in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga as the antagonist Dementus. The George Miller movie was a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road starring Anya Taylor-Joy. Coming up, Hemsworth will lead the voice cast of Transformers One as Optimus Prime.

Source: Variety