Famous Associate Producer Explains Who Inspired The Characters Of Hulk Hogan And Billy Graham

On the latest episode of the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, I had the pleasure to speak with Associate Producer of the new documentary, "350 Days", Evan Ginzburg. Among many other films, Ginzburg was also the Associate Producer of "The Wrestler", which was instrumental to him landing his role for 350 Days. Ginzburg was in charge of bringing in the 38 wrestlers who were a part of the documentary, which featured Bret Hart, "Superstar" Billy Graham, Lanny Poffo, Greg Valentine, Paul Orndorff, and others, with many conducting their last interviews before passing away.

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The major point of the documentary was the showing the good, bad, and ugly that came with the pro wrestling business, especially traveling 300 to 350 days a year. As a result of this extensive travel, wrestlers missed out on a significant portion of their family life. For example, Tito Santana stated that he unfortunately missed out on anniversaries and birthdays as a result of the rigorous travel. Despite this, as Bret Hart explained, a career in the professional wrestling industry is like a drug, and it was very helpful in fulfilling emotional voids that he experienced at home.

Among various topics, Ginzburg discussed the origin of the Hulk Hogan character. While many are aware that Hogan and others admit that their character was inspired from Billy Graham, Ginzburg explained that it goes even further back than that.

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"[Hogan] had unbelievable charisma," said Ginzburg. "I mean, you'll never mistake Hulk Hogan for Lou Thesz or Billy Robinson, but the charisma was off the charts. Much of what Hogan took was from Billy Graham, who's one of the stars of the movie. Billy Graham.. I'll tell you the lineage; people are not really aware. Muhammed Ali went to a radio station. By sheer coincidence, he was on the same station as Gorgeous George. Muhammed Ali was very quiet, he was Cassius Clay at the time. Very quiet and soft spoken.

"And Gorgeous George was like, 'kid, you gotta hype it up. I'll show you how to move tickets.' And Muhammed Ali was like transfixed by the charisma that Gorgeous George had. So then you had guys like Billy Graham who patented themselves after Muhammed Ali! Okay? And then Hogan and [Jesse] Ventura stole half of Billy Graham's act, okay? So, there is a lineage there, and it's an interesting lineage that people aren't really aware of."

350 Days is scheduled to air in theaters on July 12, and details can be viewed at https://www.350daysthemovie.com/. You can hear the interview below.

Source: Pancakes and Powerslams

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