Following a painful divorce from his wife, a sentence of jail time handed down to his son, and the recently-released sex tape, it's grown increasingly harder for a YouTube search of Hulk Hogan to remind people of his glory days as a professional wrestler. His fall from grace has continued firmly in the public eye though, and this week Hogan took to Howard Stern's radio show to drop two film-related tidbits, even as his involvement in both remains debatable.
Over the course of an hour Hogan rifled through a laundry list of personal issues on Stern's show, but one of the more peculiar items revolved around the entertainer's relationship to Darren Aronofsky's “The Wrestler,” and specifically the claim that Mickey Rourke's role was offered to him but he turned it down (something he's been talking about for a while now). He then added it was not the first high-profile film he'd turned down either, with apparently the lead in “Highlander” alongside Little John in “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” having moved swiftly off the table as well.
Thanks to the swift kick of information around the web though, Aronofsky quickly nabbed word of the claim, and took to Twitter to lay the matter straight. “For the record the role of the wrestler was always Mickey Rourke,” the director, currently in production on “Noah,” wrote. “It was never Hulk Hogan as he claims on Howard Stern.”
Aronofsky would and should likely be the final word on such a rumor, but regardless of truth, Hogan failed to stop at “The Wrestler” when it came to inserting himself into a film's production. He claimed that his fans have also been demanding the star's inclusion in Sly Stallone's third “The Expendables” film, and unlike the other roles mentioned he would be keen to appear in it.
Of course, no offer to the actor has yet been made (a Facebook page has been made in support), but if Hogan's account continues predictably down this road, we can look forward to a denial from Stallone next year surrounding his latest casting mishap. [Slash Film]