In 2019 Netflix announced that a biopic on legendary professional wrestler Hulk Hogan was in the works. Chris Hemsworth was picked to play the WWE Hall of Famer who rose to stardom in the 1980s, known for creating the “Hulkamania” craze. Directed by Joker‘s Todd Phillips, it would have chronicled his journey to success, winning his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship from The Iron Sheik (which he held for over 1400 days) and how the Hulkster’s momentum ran through the 1990s.
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Earlier this year Phillips opened up about production on the project, stating that it had essentially been scrapped. Many wrestling fans wondered why, though he refused to elaborate further at the time. Now Hogan has given a bit more insight into what went wrong, explaining that measures in the contract fell through.
“They kind of missed a beat in the contract, yeah [when Patrick Bet-David said Netflix screwed up]. There was a payment that wasn’t placed at the right time,” Hogan said on the PBD podcast. “The script was amazing. Scott Silver, who wrote the script for Joker, Wolf of Wall Street, a bunch of other movies, said, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever written.’ When I read it, I’m like, oh my god, this is really good. At the time, I was in a space where I told him the positive stuff about wrestling.”
He continues, noting that the script was actually very dark and there was belief that Hemsworth could’ve won an Oscar for his performance. He also details how it would’ve taken fans right up until the point he went heel as Hollywood Hogan and left the WWE for WCW. If it had done as well as they’d predicted it would, Hogan explains there would have been an opportunity to make a follow up.
“Spent about three years with this writer going back and forth. When I read it, it was just very, very dark, if that would be the right word. But it was probably what the public may want to see. When I read it I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, if this thing comes out…’ there was talk that Chris Hemsworth had never played a real person before and he could probably win an Oscar, this thing is so powerful.”
The pop culture zeitgeist has a renewed interest in the sport since A24’s The Iron Claw biopic that followed the tragic story of the Von Erichs. Just last month Netflix released the controversial Mr. McMahon series that went over many of Vince McMahon’s scandals during his time of taking WWE to the top. This includes the latest sexual assault allegations from Ms. Janel Grant, a former WWE employee who accused both McMahon and former Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis of obscene acts.
H/T: Fightful
