The Real Problem With Netflix's Hulk Hogan Movie
That's not to say that nobody could have made a film about Hulk Hogan while he's alive, because things like the OJ Simpson films prove that it's possible to not just pour sycophancy on subjects, but it would probably be a lot easier if there weren't people with heavy investment in his image.
It would also be markedly easier if Hogan wasn't the filter through which all of his history was going to be run. He's effectively been installed as the Gatekeeper to the true story of what happened when he rose to prominence and invented the idea of mainstream pro wrestling. If you think that's hyperbolic, prepare for how the marketing is skewed in the coming months and years.
With Hogan, it's slightly more complex than it was for Queen. Sure, he and whoever else looking over his shoulder will be interested in protecting his legacy and keeping anything that reflects badly out of the film, but there's also the issue of how Hogan sees his own life.
As suggested during his Gawker trial, Terry Bollea doesn't live the same life as Hulk Hogan. Terry Bollea doesn't even have the same penis as Hulk Hogan. Hogan is a fictional construct, built by Bollea to be the perfect image of the jobs he was supposed to be doing. When they needed an all-American hero capable of saving the world of pro-wrestling, he invented a bronze adonis with a 10-inch dick and a can-do attitude to match his pythons. When they needed a heel, he was just as adept at reshaping Hogan's story to fit.
He is, for all intents and purposes, a story-teller, which might go some way to explaining the rather notorious track-record he has for making... bold claims about things he's done. Perhaps it comes down to the same "my penis is actually massive" mentality that went into constructing Hogan, but it's since been suggested that Hogan's claims that Metallica wanted him to join the band or that UFC wanted him to fight or pretty much anything about his Hulkster In Heaven song might not have been wholly true.
And by that, I mean, they were fabrications, along with him claiming he could have played the titular role in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. Or that he fought George Foreman in a boxing match. Or the injuries he shrugged off after lifting a 600 lbs Andre The Giant to bodyslam him. He spins a good yarn, but maybe don't believe all you've heard.