It’s curious that WWE Studios — the movie studio owned by pro wrestling company World Wrestling Entertainment — has never made a biopic movie about a pro wrestler. Sure, WWE Studios makes movies starring the company’s wrestlers, but they aren’t actually about wrestlers.
Today WWE Studios has announced that it will finally put into production a movie about an actual pro wrestler, George Raymond Wagner, better known as the legendary Gorgeous George. Frozen star Josh Gad and writing partner Ryan Dixon will be writing the script for WWE Studios and Great Point Media.
In the 1950s, he flamboyant George helped turn pro wrestler from its athletic-based origins to the entertainment spectacle it is today. Pop culture icons like Muhammad Ali, Bob Dylan and James Brown have all cited George as a tremendous influence on their public personas. WWE Studios previously attempted to put a Gorgeous George movie into production back in 2010 based on the 2008 book Gorgeous George: The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Popular Culture by John Capouya, but this is a new take on that material.
Check out the full press release below:
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (OCTOBER 14th, 2015) – WWE Studios (NYSE: WWE) announced today that it will co-develop the George Raymond Wagner biopic Gorgeous George alongside Robert Halmi Jr.’s Great Point Media, with Josh Gad (The Wedding Ringer, Frozen) and longtime writing partner Ryan Dixon (Opening Night) set to pen the script.
Gorgeous George will chronicle the life and career of George Raymond Wagner, the legendary professional wrestler and sports entertainer credited with inspiring the flamboyant personas of everyone from Muhammad Ali to James Brown. Throughout his career, George reached staggering heights and brought joy to millions of fans with his onscreen promos and outrageous characters, ushering sports into the TV Age.
“Gorgeous George was a true pioneer in television,” said Michael Luisi, President of WWE Studios. “Josh is a true talent and we are thrilled to see him and Ryan tackle such a groundbreaking story.”
Gad recently wrapped production on the Disney film Beauty And The Beast opposite Emma Watson and Luke Evans. He will begin production in January on STX Entertainment’s Russ And Roger where he will play Roger Ebert, and in May, he will lend his voice to the animated SONY movie Angry Birds. He was last seen starring in Sony’s Pixels opposite Adam Sandler and Kevin James, and earlier this year in the Screen Gems movie The Wedding Ringer with Kevin Hart. His other credits include Disney’s animated hit film Frozen, Love And Other Drugs, The Internship, Thanks For Sharing, The Comedians and the hit Broadway musical Book Of Mormon.
WWE Studios will handle worldwide rights and will leverage WWE’s extensive platforms, including weekly TV shows, digital and social media and WWE Network, to market this title.
Josh Gad is represented by Ziffren Brittenham, WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Ryan Dixon is represented by Ziffren Brittenham and ICM.
Bradley Buchanan negotiated on behalf of WWE Studios.
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