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In August 2024, it was reported that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were developing a film based on the 2018 book Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue. That project, according to new reports, has been shelved.
According to reports, the film, which would’ve been titled Killing Gawker, was lining up Good Will Hunting filmmaker Gus Van Zant to direct the project.
At the time, it was reported that Ben Affleck would be starring as legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan while Matt Damon would star as controversial venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who recently went viral for not being able to answer the question of “if humanity should survive” while looking like a melting wax statue.
Now, according to TMZ, the film has been cancelled, although reports indicate the project was scrapped prior to Hogan’s death at the age of 71 years old earlier this week.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon scrapped their movie that would’ve seen them star as Hulk Hogan and Peter Thiel
“Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ the stars’ production company, Artists Equity, isn’t moving forward with the project, which hasn’t been in development for some time.”
“We’re told the decision was made a while ago — long before Hulk’s passing — so, the two aren’t related to it whatsoever. It’s unclear why they decided to pull the plug on the film.”
Filed in 2013, “Bollea v. Gawker” was an lawsuit filed by Hogan against Gawker Media for publishing a portion of a sex tape he made with a woman named Heather Clem.
Hogan — with approximately $10 million in funding from controversial venture capitalist Peter Thiel — won the lawsuit against Gawker, forcing the website to claim bankruptcy and put itself up for sale. In November 2016, Gawker and Hogan reached a $31 million settlement.
Thiel called it “one of my greater philanthropic things that I’ve done,” with reports at the time indicating that Thiel was retaliating against the website for a 2007 article that outed him as a homosexual.