I can't wait for the Hogan/Gawker movie

According to the wrestling press, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are eying a movie about the clash that had the Hulkster (and Peter Thiel) on one side and the notorious website on the other.

The Hulk Hogan/Gawker affair, which started in 2012, had everything Hollywood loves: A sex scandal involving celebrity, adultery, cuckolding, and racism. A battle over free speech and defamation led to the death of a major media company. It had a durag-clad Hogan testifying in court that the “Hulk Hogan” character has a different-sized penis than the real-life Terry Bollea. 

The story also has a long list of larger-than-life characters, from the Hulkster himself to Peter Thiel to Bubba the Love Sponge to journalist A.J. Daulerio, to Gawker boss Nick Denton, all of whom have the potential for memorable portrayals. 

There have been a few attempts at a retelling of the story, including a miniseries version that was allegedly killed in late 2020 at the behest of Tim Cook. But now, there are reports that the story is moving forward as a movie- and the story was broken not by one of the Hollywood trades but by the wrestling site PWInsider. 

According to that report, the movie is called Killing Gawker, and it is being developed by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company, who had a decent-sized hit last year with Air. 

Per the report, the idea is that Affleck will play the Hulkster. Damon will reportedly play Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who secretly bankrolled Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker after they published a snippet of his sex tape with Heather Clem, the wife of Hogan’s friend, the radio shock jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge. Thiel reportedly had a years-long vendetta against Gawker after they outed him.