WWE Chairman Vince McMahon nixed a movie about himself.
As we’ve noted, talk of the “Pandemonium” biopic on McMahon goes back to 2017, with Bradley Cooper rumored to star as McMahon at one point. Tristar Pictures was to release the film, and the original plan was to film in the spring of 2018, but that depended on several factors. WWE Studios eventually got involved, along with McMahon himself. However, it was reported in October 2020 that the project was apparently pulled, but now the directors have confirmed that the film was cancelled.
In an update, directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra recently spoke with SlashFilm and revealed that McMahon had the “Pandemonium” film shelved.
“‘Pandemonium’ is dead, sadly,” Ficarra said.
Requa added, “Vince killed it.”
Ficarra noted that the project is still one of their favorites, but he was not shy about naming McMahon as the major obstacle in bringing the film to the big screen.
“We have never in our career had the studio, we had an actor, everybody was just like, ‘Let’s make this movie,’ and Vince said, ‘We’re not making it,'” Requa explained. “So, yeah, we are on a very long list of people who got fucked over by Vince.”
The “Pandemonium” script was written by Craig A. Williams back in 2015, but it underwent several changes after WWE Studios got involved. Requa and Ficarra were always set to direct the movie, while Zaftig Films’ Charlie Gogolak was to serve as executive producer. Aperture Entertainment’s Adam Goldworn was to produce the movie, along with WWE Studios. It was reported in January 2019 that a new draft of the movie had been completed and sent to WWE executives, including McMahon, for feedback. At that point there was still no confirmation on Cooper accepting the lead role, but he had been waiting for an updated version of the script in 2018, and then was planning to make his decision. That January 2019 update also stated that while the filming date of spring 2018 had passed, the project was still being actively worked on.
There’s no word yet on when Netflix will release their four-part docuseries on McMahon, but Executive Producer Bill Simmons stated back in January that he was still working on the project, despite the recent McMahon scandals. WWE CEO Nick Khan stated during the Q3 2020 earnings call in October 2020 that WWE signed a “groundbreaking new deal” with Netflix, selling the network the multi-part documentary that would cover Vince’s life. The deal was groundbreaking because it is one of the highest-budgeted documentaries in Netflix history.
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