The director of Hulk Hogan’s documentary offers an inside look at the filming of the polarizing figure
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In his final appearance in WWE, Hulk Hogan, arguably the greatest wrestling feud in the history of the company, was broken.
When Jan. 6, 2025, appearing for the last time, Hogan then supported President Donald Trump, which turned off some of his followers.
“But he didn’t show remorse. He stood up for who he was,” Brian Storkel, director of the upcoming Netflix documentary on the late wrestler, in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
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Businessman Donald Trump and World Champion Wrestler Hulk Hogan at the Wrestlemania Vl Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on March 29 1987. (Jeffrey Asher/Getty Images)
Hogan had done five days of interviews with Netflix, for a total of 25 hours. However, he will not see the final product, as he died in July at the age of 71.
Long before he became an outspoken supporter of Trump, Hogan had been involved in other controversies in the past. But from the jump, Storkel wanted to “make him a person and really know Terry Bollea, a person.”
“With all the lessons found in my documentaries, I don’t like to look at people in black and white terms. Even if someone does something wrong, I don’t see them as a good or bad person. People are more complex than that, and that nuance is where the story becomes interesting,” said Storkel. “You need a subject who is willing to go out there, think, and be open – and Terry was.”
Hogan first went public with his support for Trump after the July 2024 assassination attempt.
“He said that he supported him silently for a long time but he felt ashamed to wear a hat. He revealed that the attempt to kill is what made him come out. Soon he spoke publicly and reacted again,” said Storkel.
Hulk Hogan, entertainment and wrestling legend, speaks on the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum. The final day of the RNC featured a keynote speech by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. (IMAGN Syndication: USA TODAY)
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Ironically, the last time Storkel interviewed Hogan was after interviewing Trump for the documentary.
“I was in the White House, just outside the West Wing, on the phone with Hulk Hogan, which was very strange. It felt like one of those surreal moments that you can imagine when you’re a kid – a fictional story that you can tell people. I had just spent time with Donald Trump, something that Hulk Hogan had set up so I could interview him, and then I was talking about what Storkel was talking about and what Hogan was talking about. remember.
“At that time, he was already coming out of the hospital after surgery, so that ended up being the last call I had with him.”
Storkel admitted that there isn’t much different about the documentary following Hogan’s death from his early plans, other than a later installment and more time with his son, Nick. Storkel was doing a documentary interview at WWE headquarters in Connecticut the day Hogan died.
“There is also a moment in the film when I say we will come back in a few months for another interview. He agrees and goes outside the frame – and that ends up being the last moment. It becomes a powerful moment because you realize that the follow-up has never happened,” said Storkel.
But no matter what happened, Storkel felt an obligation to tell the greatest story of all.
Nick Hogan and Hulk Hogan during VH1 Big in ’05 – Backstage and Audience at Sony Studios in Los Angeles, California. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
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“With every project, I want fairness and accuracy. Of course I want the people involved to feel good about it, but I won’t change the truth to make that happen,” said Storkel. “With the Hulk, knowing him personally made it very important to respect him properly. Yes, he was flawed and divisive, but he was also a caring person with a great personality.
“I didn’t want his legacy to be relegated to one label or judged only by politics or past mistakes. My goal was to show the whole person. Regardless of how people feel going in, I think they’ll come away with a deeper understanding of who he was. I really appreciated getting to know him, and I hope the audience gets that experience through the documentary.”
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