“The Immortal” Hulk Hogan’s biopic earned some chatter online recently thanks to the Hulkster, but Eric Bischoff says that we’ve still got a ways to go on it. Chris Hemsworth is set to star in the Netflix film that will be directed by Joker helmer Todd Phillips, and Hogan put a bit of a spotlight back on it when he posted to Twitter earlier this week noting that Hemsworth is in the right shape and “ready” to play him.
When asked about the film on After 83 Weeks, Bischoff pointed out that the film is still a long way off from filming and said it’s still in what he calls late development, without any casting (aside from Hemsworth of course) set and no production date scheduled. You can see highlights from his comments and the full video below:
What’s the status of the movie: “There was a story leaked [two years ago] … and nobody knows for sure where the leak came from. But the information about this movie was never supposed to make the press. And since that time, although Chris has done a few interviews and made some very broad, general references to the project, there’s no official project — well, there’s an official project. There’s no official statement.
“The project is still technically in development, meaning it’s not scheduled for production. There’s no casting going on, there’s no scheduling going on. It’s still in the, I would say late stages of development. So it’s not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. I wish it was, because I’d be out looking for a new truck. But it’s not. So I’ll be in my 1995 GMC 2500 pickup with 158,000 miles on it. But in the meantime, it’s still — it’s very much alive as a project, it’s very viable. It’s certainly in development. Things have moved so far along that it’s only a matter of time, in my opinion. But it’s not official yet.”
Bischoff’s involvement with the project: “I’m not involved in these discussions, I want to make that really clear too. The bulk of my involvement, honestly, was in the early, early, early phases of the [film]. All my heavy lifting has already been done when it comes to — if I was involved in any movie and contributed what I’ve contributed thus far, my role would be almost as a welcome but casual observer, not a participant.”
Who is involved in the project: “Here’s the reality I think, as someone who’s been through the process I’ve been through so far. A couple big, big domino pieces fell. First, and arguably the biggest right next to Chris Hemsworth is the director, Todd Phillips. Right behind the director Todd Phillips, is a man named Scott Silver. Todd Phillips, as you know, directed Joker amongst a lot of other — Hangover trilogy. He’s done a lot of great movies, made a lot of money in the movie business … the writer for the movie Joker is a gentleman named Scott Silver who is also the writer on this project.
“So when you have the trifecta of Todd Phillips, who’s one of the more sought-after directors in Hollywood. Scott Silver, same could be said, easily. And then it’s not that hard to get a guy like Chris Hemsworth — well, I shouldn’t say it’s not that hard. It becomes a little easier to attract a top, top, top, top level actor when you’ve got top, top level directors and writers. So in the industry, at least in the television industry that I do know a little bit about, that’s called packaging. And I think the packaging is what got this movie off the ground. And that took place two years ago.”
On what’s holding up the film right now: “And the biggest holdup right now folks, is COVID. This is a big movie, by the way. You know, it’s a wrestling-based movie, so guess what you need to have in a wrestling-based movie? A crowd! Where are you going to do that? You can’t even have more than ten people at your house for Thanksgiving right now. So until that part of it’s figured out, it’s likely that this project is going to stay kind of right where it is, which is really far down the line. I don’t want to sound like it’s not going to happen. It’s going to happen. It’s just when.”
