Chris Hemsworth offers a less-than-encouraging status report on his Hulk Hogan biopic. Hemsworth has played Thor the God of Thunder in the MCU since 2011. In 2019 it was revealed that he would be playing another larger-than-life character, as he was announced to star in a Netflix biopic of legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan with Joker director Todd Phillips at the helm.

Hogan of course became a massive wrestling star in the 1980s as the then-WWF exploded as a major force in entertainment. Later Hogan would become a reality star, and a figure of controversy as he became embroiled in various scandals, including the infamous lawsuit that took down the website Gawker. Despite Hogan’s complicated legacy, Hemsworth seems eager to tackle the job of portraying the famous wrestler noted for his over-the-top persona and 24-inch-python biceps. Unfortunately there hasn’t been much news lately about the status of Hemsworth’s Hulk Hogan biopic, though there was a bit of a stir last June when the actor was seen sporting unusually huge arms, leading fans to assume he was getting in shape to portray the massive Hogan.

Now however it seems fans should pump the brakes on their excitement over Hemsworth playing Hulk Hogan. Appearing with wrestling journalist Chris Van Vliet to promote his new movie Spiderhead, Hemsworth offered a Hulk Hogan biopic update and indicated that things are not currently looking good on the project. He said (via CBR):

"Todd Phillips is busy doing Joker 2 I believe, and I've been off doing other films. It's all in conversations and in development, and like a lot of things, a lot of things need to come together for it to happen. But I don't have 24-inch pythons... yet."

Indeed announced Hulk Hogan director Todd Phillips is currently busy on the somewhat more high-profile project Joker 2, which is set to team Lady Gaga with Joaquin Phoenix in a musical take on the Joker/Harley Quinn pairing. Hemsworth meanwhile has multiple irons in the fire, as one would expect from a star of his magnitude. Both Thor: Love and Thunder and Spiderhead are completed, but he also has Extraction 2 upcoming and of course is currently hard at work on George Miller’s Furiosa, which will see the perpetual good-guy Hemsworth playing the lead villain. And there are doubtless other unannounced and unreported projects that Hemsworth is also involved in getting off the ground.

All-in-all it sounds like Hulk Hogan is not currently a priority for either Hemsworth or Phillips as both deal with bigger projects. But Hemsworth’s remarks certainly make it seem that he still has his eye on pumping up his pythons and playing Hulk Hogan if things do come together as he hopes. The bigger question maybe is whether the world really wants a Hulk Hogan biopic given his current status in the culture. People of a certain age no doubt have nostalgic feelings about growing up as fans of the Hulkster and his wrestling exploits. But Hulk Hogan also comes with a lot of other baggage that might be tricky to deal with in any honest biopic.