Hulk Hogan finally shared why his Netflix biopic will never hit the screen.
Back when the project was announced, it sounded exciting to see Hogan’s story told by Todd Phillips and starring Chris Hemsworth. But Hogan says Netflix missed an important payment in the contract, and it gave him the choice to cancel. In a recent interview on the PBD Podcast, Hogan shared that he was impressed by the script but had concerns about how the movie might portray him.
The film’s script was written by Scott Silver. He’s the writer behind ‘Joker’ and ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’ According to Hogan, Silver spent about three years collaborating with him on the story. “[Silver] said, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever written.’ And when I read it, I went, ‘Oh my god, this is really good,'” he recalled.
But Hogan also described the story as ‘very dark’ and worried it would show only one side of his life. “I spent about three years with this writer, going back and forth. When I read it, it was very, very dark, if that would be the right word, but it was probably what the public may want to see, you know? And when I read it, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, if this thing comes out…'”
At the same time, Hogan said he believed that if the movie could’ve won awards if it had come out. “There was talk that Chris Hemsworth had never played a real person before and he would probably win an Oscar and the movie too,” he said.
Hogan’s concerns about his legacy outweighed his excitement for the project. He worried that the dark tone of the biopic would become his lasting image in people’s minds. So, when Netflix missed their contractual deadline, Hogan decided to use this to walk away from the project.
The Netflix film is canceled, but another project related to Hogan’s life might still be in the works. It was revealed that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are developing ‘Killing Gawker.’ It’s a movie focused on Hogan’s legal battle with the now-shut-down website Gawker. Hogan is not involved in this new project, and he already threatened legal action if it moves forward.
