Here’s why legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog features in Netflix’s Hulk Hogan docuseries
People were surprised to see him in it
Since the release of Netflix’s Hulk Hogan: Real American, people have been wondering why the legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog appears in the new docuseries.
The doc looks at the life of Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, who became one of the biggest names in professional wrestling. It traces his rise during the Hulkamania era, his role in turning wrestling into a global entertainment business, and also the more controversial parts of his legacy that shaped how he is viewed today.
One of the most unexpected people featured in the doc is Werner Herzog. He is known for films like Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, the Wrath of God. Now, it might seem like a strange collision of different worlds, but Herzog has actually long had a genuine fascination with professional wrestling and WrestleMania, something he has spoken about for decades.
In The Austin Chronicle in 2002, he described wrestling as a “very raw, primitive form of new drama… being born, as it must have been in the earlier Greek times before Sophocles and before Euripides, when something like this emerged for the public eye.”
When asked why he would watch something like WrestleMania, he told Fresh Air with Terry Gross, “My answer is the poet must not avert his eyes from what’s going on in the world. In order to understand what’s going on, you have to face it.”
He has also described attending events like WrestleMania in almost mythic terms, seeing them as chaotic modern dramas where exaggerated characters play out moral struggles in front of massive crowds.
In the Netflix doc, Herzog explained, “All of us, in a way, have a performative life. As a father, I am performative. And in your own wedding, you are performative. And on and on and on. It’s part of human nature, of the human experience. There’s nothing wrong about it.”
He added, “Well, in the case of Hulk Hogan, it would be interesting to look into the performer and into the real Hulk Hogan, if he still exists.”
This is important because the Hulk Hogan doc isn’t only about Hogan’s wrestling fame, but also about the gap between Terry Bollea and Hulk Hogan, and how those identities blur over time.
Herzog’s presence helps underline that theme. He isn’t there to treat wrestling as just entertainment, but to question what it means when performance becomes a person’s public identity.
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