Ben Affleck He is said to be in talks to play iconic wrestler Hulk Hogan in an upcoming film project titled Kill Gawker, with Good Will Hunting‘S Gus Van Sant direction.
The film is based on the 2018 book written by Ryan Holiday titled Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigueand the script was written by The big bet writer Charles Randolph.
The film will detail Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media, the company that published Hogan’s sex tape online and is funded by Peter Thiel.
Matt Damon is also rumored to play Thiel in the film. But there is no official confirmation of casting. However, Affleck and Damon are definitely involved as producers.
The book description offers further details on the story:
“In 2007, a short blog post on Valleywag, Gawker Media’s Silicon Valley vertical, revealed that PayPal founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel was gay. Thiel’s sexuality was known to close friends and family, but he did not consider himself a public figure and believed the information was private.
“This post would be the casus belli for a meticulously planned conspiracy that would end nearly a decade later with a $140 million judgment against Gawker, its bankruptcy, and Gawker founder and CEO Nick Denton out of a job. Only later would the world learn that Gawker’s demise was no accident: It was engineered by Thiel.
“For years, Thiel had relentlessly searched for a solution to what he called the “Gawker problem.” When an anonymous envelope delivered an illegally recorded sex tape of Hogan with his best friend’s wife, Gawker saw an opportunity to get millions of page views and say the things others were afraid to say.
“Thiel saw the release of the tape as the opportunity he had been looking for. It would pit Hogan against Gawker in a multi-year proxy war through the Florida legal system, while Gawker remained adamant that they would prevail as they had in so many other lawsuits, until it was too late.
“The verdict would have stunned the world and would have definitively exposed Peter as the man who had set it all in motion. Why had he done it? How had no one found out? What would this mean: for the First Amendment? For privacy? For culture?
“In Holiday’s masterful telling of this almost unbelievable conspiracy, based on interviews with all the key players, this case transcends the narrative of how a billionaire destroyed a media empire or the current state of the free press. It is a study in power, strategy, and one of the most wildly ambitious and successful secret conspiracies in recent memory.
“Some will cheer the destruction of Gawker, others will deplore it, but after reading these pages and seeing the access granted to the author, no one will deny that there is something ruthless and brilliant in Peter Thiel’s shocking attempt to shake the world.”
Production in progress Killing Gawker is expected to start in January 2025.
From: PWInsider and The InSneider
by Joey Fear
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
