Ben Affleck might just be catching Hulkamania.
Late last week, rumors began flying that Affleck and best bud Matt Damon were in the final stages of locking down a hot script about the infamous Hulk Hogan sex-tape scandal, which ended with the former wrestler successfully suing Gawker, the outlet that published the tape, out of existence.
That Affleck and Damon were circling Killing Gawker was first reported on Friday by PWInsider. The wrestling blog claimed that Affleck and Damon were also jonesing to play Hogan and Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech investor who bankrolled the war on Gawker, respectively.
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Nothing was confirmed over the weekend, however, and the tabloids instead focused on covering Affleck’s solo motorcycle ride around Los Angeles amid his neither-confirmed-nor-denied-yet split from Jennifer Lopez. The Argo triple-threat (director-producer-star) was papped zipping around on an electric-blue bike just hours after he debuted a stylish new ‘do that was generously dubbed a faux-hawk by Page Six. “In case you doubted this was a man going through it,” commented New York magazine.
Sure signs of an impending divorce aside, lo and behold, come Monday morning the trades began reporting that Artists Equity, Affleck and Damon’s production company, had begun developing Killer Gawker. Gus Van Sant, the director behind another Affleck-Damon project, Good Will Hunting, is either set to direct or just in early talks, depending on whether you believe Variety or Deadline.
Crucially, though, no casting news was immediately announced, and Artists Equity did not offer a comment on the news.
Killing Gawker was penned by Charles Randolph, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind 2015’s The Big Short. It was adapted from author Ryan Holiday’s 2018 tome Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue.
In 2012, Gawker posted a 30-minute video of Hogan having consensual sex with the wife of his best friend Bubba the Love Sponge around five years prior. The tape, sent to Gawker by an anonymous source, went viral and resulted in a nine-figure lawsuit that eventually went to trial in March 2016.
After a two-week trial, a Florida jury would award Hogan more than $140 million in damages. He would eventually reach a $31 million settlement with Gawker, which would file for bankruptcy that summer.
Hogan’s legal battle was secretly funded by Thiel, who had nursed a grudge against Gawker since 2007, when it outed him in a blog post headlined “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.” The PayPayl co-founder publicly revealed himself as Hogan’s benefactor in the months after the trial.
Artists Equity, which made waves last year with the success of the sports-marketing drama Air, has four other projects in the pipeline, including the (Casey) Affleck-Damon crime thriller The Instigators, which premiered Friday.
The elder Affleck may face some competition when it comes to portraying ol’ “Hollywood” Hogan on the silver screen, however. Earlier this year, Chris Hemsworth confirmed his interest in playing the wrestling star, acknowledging that he’d discussed putting together a biopic with Joker director Todd Phillips. “I can’t say it’s officially happening yet,” he said. “If there was a green light, I’d get to work on it.”
