Chris Hemsworth is going to play wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan in an upcoming biopic for Netflix. The movie will be directed by Todd Phillips, reuniting with screenplay writer Scott Silver. The two previously worked together on the DC movie Joker, which is due to release later this year. Producing the project will be Michael Sugar of Sugar23, and Phillips and Bradley Cooper under their Joint Effort banner.

Hemsworth and Eric Bischoff will also be producing, and Hulk Hogan himself is attached as a consultant and executive producer. Sugar23's Ashley Zalta is also executive producing the Hulk Hogan Biopic.

Known internationally by his moniker Hulk Hogan, the legendary wrestler is actually named Terry Bollea. He rose to fame in the 1980's as a part of Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation. After body slamming the unstoppable Andre the Giant in the main event of Wrestlemania III, Hogan had solidified himself as perhaps the most famous and beloved pro wrestler of all time. For years, Hulkamania would run wild across the world as Hogan became a permanent part of mainstream pop culture. He was given lead roles in Hollywood movies, had his own cartoon series, and had his trademark branded on all kinds of merchandise.

In the '90s, Hogan had reinvented himself as a villain in World Championship Wrestling. Turning on Randy Savage and joining a nefarious group called the New World Order, Hogan again became one of wrestling's biggest stars from the other side of the fence. Following the closure of WCW, Hogan would return home to WWE (formerly WWF) to win the coveted World Heavyweight Championship once again. Although there is clearly plenty of ground to cover when it comes to the Hulkster's wrestling career, the upcoming biopic will focus particularly on his initial rise to fame in the '80s, and is essentially an origin story of the birth of Hulkamania.

As we all know, Hogan became the subject of various scandals following the height of his wrestling fame. The entertainment website Gawker had posted footage from a sex tape with Hogan and the wife of one of his friends. Worse yet, the wrestler had been caught using racial slurs in the footage, leading to a years-long exile from WWE. The incident led to Hogan suing Gawker and ultimately bankrupting the company, earning himself a settlement worth millions of dollars. It's certainly not the most flattering chapter of Hogan's life, but it won't be touched on in the biopic if the story focuses mainly on the wrestler's career in the '80s.

With a Paige biopic Fighting with my Family hitting theaters this weekend, it seems like an appropriate time to announce this Netflix Hulk Hogan project. As with Paige, it will be interesting for fans to see what the journey is like for an aspiring wrestler to reach the top of the business, and especially so for somebody like Hogan. There's no word yet on when we can expect to see the movie come to fruition. With names like Hemsworth and Phillips involved, however, it certainly seems promising. This information comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.