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Hulk Hogan might file a lawsuit over a movie being made about a lawsuit he once filed.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Hollywood A-listers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were developing a film titled Killing Gawker, which would detail Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against the now-defunct website Gawker.
Reports indicated that Affleck would play Hulk Hogan, Damon would play sinister Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel, while Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Zant was being eyed to direct.
TMZ now reports, though, that the 70-year-old wrestling legend, real name Terry Bollea, is “ready, willing and able to take legal action” against the film.
“Sources connected to Hulk say he has no involvement whatsoever in the film project and is currently ‘indifferent’ about it. However if the movie treads into territory that a jury already found was protected by his right to privacy, Hulk will not hesitate to pursue legal options.” [via TMZ]
It’s unclear how Hogan would approach suing to stop the production of the film as movies, especially ones that are fact-based, are protected under the first amendment.
“Bollea v. Gawker” was filed by Hogan against Gawker Media for charges of invasion of privacy after the website published a portion of a sex tape he filmed with Heather Clem, the wife of a radio personality named “Bubba the Love Sponge.”
Hogan — fueled by $10 million provided to him by Theil to cover legal fees — won the lawsuit against Gawker and earned a $140 million settlement (Gawker ultimately paid Hogan $31 million and shut down operations). Reports at the time indicated that Thiel was allegedly motivated to get revenge against Gawker for a 2007 article that outed him as gay.
Bollea recently made headlines for his appearance at the Republican National Convention. Thiel has connections to both Bollea and the RNC, as the controversial billionaire has helped finance J.D. Vance’s political career.
Thiel’s willingness to put capital behind social and political causes is not to be taken lightly as the 56-year-old former PayPal CEO — who, like Elon Musk, spent his childhood in South Africa — compared America to 1920s Germany and said that “whatever democracy is… is exhausted.”