A scripted film about Hulk Hogan’s legal battle with Gawker is in the works from Artists Equity, the production company run by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
Per Variety, the production company nabbed a screenplay penned by Charles Randolph, inspired by Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue, written by Ryan Holiday. Gus Van Sant is in line to direct the feature, which has not been cast yet.
Among sports fans, Artists Equity is best known for Air, the film about Nike’s pursuit of Michael Jordan starring Affleck (as Phil Knight) and Damon (as Sonny Vaccaro) and distributed by Amazon Studios.
Hogan sued Gawker nearly a decade ago and was awarded $115 million, with another $25 million in punitive damages also being added to the tab. The suit ended up being settled for $31 million. It was eventually revealed that billionaire Peter Thiel was funding Hogan’s lawsuit, which eventually led to the sale of Gawker Media and the shutdown of Gawker.com.
The suit led to Holiday’s book and a Netflix documentary (Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press) directed by Brian Knappenberger. The rights to Conspiracy were originally acquired in 2018 by Blackrock Productions, which never released a feature.
[Variety]
