Whatcha gonna do when Hulk Hogan and a Silicon Valley investor with a bone to pick run wild on you? Audiences will find out for themselves at some point in the future when Killing Gawker, the upcoming book-to-screen adaptation produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck comes out. The movie, which will focus on Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media after the outlet published excerpts of a sex tape featuring the legendary WWE and WCW wrestler, will bring to light one of the craziest wrestling and pop culture stories of the 21st century.
There is already a ton of information about some aspects of the production, including all the big Hollywood talent working on things behind the scenes, the book on which the film is based, and so much more. Let’s dive into this highly-anticipated and long-in-the-works Hogan/Gawker movie.
What Is The Killing Gawker Release Date?
There is no Killing Gawker release date as of August 2024, so you can go ahead and let go of the idea of seeing the Hulk Hogan movie on the 2024 movie schedule. There’s a chance we could see this pop up at some point during the 2025 movies, but we shouldn’t get too carried away at this point.
However, crazy and unexpected things happen all the time in the world of professional wrestling, and the same can be said about wrestling-adjacent projects like Killing Gawker. In all seriousness, though, we’re very excited to learn more about the film’s release and will share any and all information with readers as it becomes available.
The Killing Gawker Cast
Just like when reading professional wrestling “dirt sheets,” there have been some major rumors surrounding the Killing Gawker cast, including one that Ben Affleck will reportedly play Hulk Hogan in the legal drama. When discussing the movie in August 2024, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that, according to media reports, Affleck was circling the lead role but no casting decisions had been finalized.
The thought of Affleck wearing the Hulkster’s signature black bandana in court and explaining the differences between Hogan the wrestler and Terry Bollea the man is something we’d love to see… brother! Expect to hear more about casting news in the coming weeks and months as more details are announced.
What Is Killing Gawker About?
When Killing Gawker premieres at some point in the future, it will chronicle the massive legal battle between Hogan and Gawker Media, which, according to The Hollywood Reporter, ended with Gawker being forced to pay the retired wrestler $31 million (the original judgment was $140) and shut down. This all stemmed from a 2012 article in which Gawker published portions of a sex tape featuring Hogan that was allegedly filmed without his knowledge six years prior.
The trial was famously bankrolled by Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal who the New York Times reported had a vendetta against the site after he was outed in a 2007 blog. According to THR, Thiel is said to be a key character in Killing Gawker, and we can only assume Gawker founder Nick Denton will be as well.
Killing Gawker Is Based On Ryan Holiday’s 2018 Non-Fiction Book, Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue
Like many other courtroom dramas, Killing Gawker is not only based on an actual real-life case but it’s also based on a critically acclaimed book about one of the craziest outside-the-ring wrestling sagas in modern history. The Affleck and Damon production is an adaptation of Ryan Holiday’s non-fiction book, Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue, which was first published back in 2018. A paperback version, which was published by Penguin Random House in 2019, was released with a different subtitle (A True Story of Power, Sex, and a Billionaire’s Secret Plot to Destroy a Media Empire), but the text throughout remains the same.
Holiday’s book was well-received by critics and readers alike and even found a spot on NPR’s Book Concierge list of 2018 great reads. Meanwhile, the New York Times called the work “captivating” in a February 2018 review.
Gus Van Sant Is Set To Direct Killing Gawker
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck will be teaming up with their Good Will Hunting director when it comes to Killing Gawker, as Variety has reported that Gus Van Sant will be helming the project. Though Van Sant doesn’t come up as a big wrestling fan (not that we know of, anyway), he will bring with him decades of experience behind the camera telling complex and rich stories.
Over the years, Van Sant has directed projects like Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, the aforementioned Good Will Hunting, and Milk, with the latter two earning him Oscar nominations for Best Director. Killing Gawker will be his first movie since 2018’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.
Academy Award-Winning Screenwriter Charles Randolph Penned The Killing Gawker Script
When it comes to adapting Conspiracy into Killing Gawker, those duties will fall in the lap of Charles Randolph, according to Deadline. A talented screenwriter with a killer track record, Randolph won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Big Short, Adam McKay’s star-studded dramedy about the 2007-2008 financial crisis, which was adapted from Michael Lewis’ non-fiction book of the same name.
Randolph’s other feature films include Bombshell, Love & Other Drugs, The Interpreter, and The Life of David Gale.
Todd Phillips Has Been Planning Another Hulk Hogan Movie For Years
Killing Gawker isn’t the only Hulk Hogan movie currently in the works, as Todd Phillips has long been planning a film based on the iconic wrestler’s life for some time now. Back in February 2019, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the director behind the Hangover and Joker movies was working on a biopic for Netflix about the famous grappler and that Chris Hemsworth was going to be donning the red and yellow spandex to play the Hulkster.
However, after years of development on the project, Hemsworth gave a somewhat disappointing update in a May 2024 Screenrant interview where he said he’d be down to work on it if there was a “green light,” the key word being “if” in this scenario. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Well, expect to hear much more about Killing Gawker in the coming weeks and months. But, if you want to check out some wrestling in the meantime, there are quite a few upcoming WWE events that should do the trick.