Gus Van Sant Set to Direct ‘Killing Gawker' With Affleck/Damon

Over the weekend, I reported that Ben Affleck was set to star as Hulk Hogan in “Killing Gawker.” Matt Damon was going to play former PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

In my world, this latest development is even more exciting. Jeff Sneider is reporting that Gus Van Sant is set to direct “Killing Gawker.” He’ll thus be reuniting with Damon and Affleck for the first time since 1997’s Oscar-winning “Good Will Hunting.”

Oscar-winner Chris Randolph (“The Big Short”) wrote the screenplay which is based on Ryan Holiday’s 2018 book Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue. 

This is set to be Van Sant’s first film project in over six years. In the ‘90s and ‘00s, there weren’t many U.S. filmmakers as hot in the indie movie scene as Gus Van Sant. I highly recommend Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy” which was composed of “Gerry,” “Elephant” and “Last Days.”

The Portland-based director won the Palme d’Or in 2003’S “Elephant” and dished out other notable films such as “My Own Private Idaho,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” “To Die For,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “Milk.” His most infamous misfire remains his 1998 shot-by-shot remake of Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

Ever since 2008’s “Milk,” Van Sant has been in a creative slump; 2011’s “Restless” was a strangely schmaltzy departure, 2013’s “The Promised Land” didn’t hit the mark, 2015’s “Sea of Trees” got panned and booed at Cannes, and I wasn’t at all taken by his Joaquin Phoenix-starring “Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot.”

Van Sant dabbled in TV directing this year with FX’s “Feud: Capote vs The Swans” — directing six of the eight episodes. It was well-received by critics.

If the blueprint from the book it’s based on were to be followed, “Killing Gawker” would chronicle the lawsuit Hulk Hogan filed against now-defunct website Gawker for publishing a sex tape video Hogan wasn't aware his former friend, Bubba the Love Sponge, was filming.  The tape was later stolen and leaked.