Director Todd Philips Won’t Helm Chris Hemsworth led Hulk Hogan Biopic!!

Director Todd Phillips will not be returning to helm the untitled Hulk Hogan movie, which was set to star Chris Hemsworth in the titular role. The movie was first announced in 2019 but hasn’t had any concrete update yet. In a new interview with Variety, Joker: Folie a Deux director confirmed that he won’t be tackling the film based on the controversial wrestler.

Fans were very eager to see the result of collaboration between Philips, Hemsworth, and Hogan himself, who was set as a consultant and executive producer. “I love what we were trying to do, but that’s not going to come together for me,” Philips said of the biopic. The movie was described as an “origin story of the Hulkster and Hulkamania,” which would have followed Hogan’s rise as the 1980s pro wrestling mega-star. The project which was being developed for Netflix counted Philips and Bradley Cooper as producers under the duo’s Joint Effort banner along with Michael Sugar.

Another Hulk Hogan Movie is in Development

Depending on your age bracket, we know two versions of Hulk Hogan. In his initial days, Terry Bollea aka Hulk Hogan was a pro-wrestling mega-star, who almost singlehandedly brought the art form into the mainstream and revolutionized the World Wrestling Federation. And then there’s the current-day leather-clad version of Hogan, who became embroiled in a sex tape and racial slur scandal that, through a much-covered lawsuit brought an end to the website Gawker.

Hogan’s courtroom battle with Gawker will be the subject of the upcoming feature, which is being produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s production company Artistis Equity. The duo previously produced last year’s Air, which saw Damon and Affleck starring, while latter also directed, the movie was based on the game-changing partnership between Nike and then rookie athlete Michael Jordan. The movie has a 98 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes which is a testament to the duo’s prowess at telling real-life stories.

Currently, there are rumors that Affleck can also transform into Hogan for the upcoming feature. But given Affleck has already attached himself to star in The Accountant 2, it’s still debatable if he would direct or act in the movie. In the aftermath of the Hogan lawsuit, Gawker went broke and shut down its operations, the story was covered author Ryan Holiday’s book Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue, which serves as inspiration for the movie. The story is adapted for screen by Charles Randolph, whose credits include movies such as The Big Short and Bombshell.