Joker director Todd Phillips has confirmed that the long-awaited Hulk Hogan biopic with Chris Hemsworth is no longer happening.
Phillips provided the disappointing update on the Hulk Hogan biopic during an interview with Variety, telling the outlet: “I love what we were trying to do, but that’s not going to come together for me.”
Hemsworth reportedly signed on to play the wrestling champion in 2019, with Phillips in the director’s chair. The script, written by Joker’s Scott Silver alongside John Pollono, would explore the unseen side of pro wrestling, tracking Hogan’s rise to fame in the 1980s rather than delving into his recent scandals and lawsuits.
I love what we were trying to do, but that’s not going to come together for me.
The actor, best known for playing Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, had previously revealed his fascination with the wrestling world and commitment to taking on the Hogan role. He told Total Film in 2020 that he was working on bulking up more than ever before in his career, describing the gig as “insanely physical.”
“This movie is going to be a really fun project,” Hemsworth said of the Hulk Hogan biopic at the time. “As you can imagine, the preparation for the role will be insanely physical. I will have to put on more size than I ever have before, even more than I put on for Thor. There is the accent as well as the physicality and the attitude.”
The project hit a bump in the road last October when Hogan appeared on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast and revealed that Netflix’s involvement had abruptly ended due to a “business glitch.”
“It was a situation where business-wise, Netflix kind of missed the date, you know, as far as a business situation. And so I had the choice at that time to switch gears,” Hogan explained. “All of a sudden, there was a business glitch, you know, and then they tried to fix it a few days later. And I’d already decided to move on.”
“My life rights and stuff are somewhere else now,” he teased, adding, “Hopefully, Todd Phillips and Chris Hemsworth will still want to play. There’s still a huge opportunity there.”
Another Hulk Hogan-centric movie is currently in development. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity acquired the screenplay for a feature titled Killing Gawker that will tackle the controversial former wrestler’s legal battle against Gawker Media, with Affleck rumored to be taking on the titular role.
Image Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
