News

HBO Planning an Andre the Giant Documentary

TJR Wrestling

Vanity Fair has announced that HBO is preparing to release a documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant. Recently, admired ESPN sportswriter, on-air commentator, and podcaster Bill Simmons left ESPN after 14 years. Simmons later partnered with HBO and this documentary on Andre the Giant will be his first project upon joining the company.

Popular gossip magazine Page Six also confirmed the news on their website stating:

“Among the squad of talents who followed Simmons out the door from ESPN is Jonathan Hock, whose documentary subjects have included the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hockey team, college basketball coach Jim Valvano, and Cuban-born Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant. Hock’s first doc for HBO is said to be on pro wrestler Andre the Giant, the French farm boy who grew up to be 7-foot-4 and 500 pounds.”

There is no news yet as to when the documentary will be released.

Mark’s reaction:

I’m really looking forward to seeing this documentary. I never understood why WWE hasn’t done an Andre the Giant documentary in the past as he’s such a recognizable figure even after all these years. I feel like a lot of people who aren’t wrestling fans know the name Andre the Giant, but don’t really know much about him other than “he was that really big wrestler; he was great in The Princess Bride!” I liked him in The Princess Bride too, but Andre Roussimoff the man has a fascinating life story and it deserves to be documented.

I enjoy watching any sort of wrestling related documentary. I always find myself learning something new and interesting about the business, or about a specific wrestler, that I never knew before/never would have imagined. HBO does a stellar job with their documentaries, so with some of their exciting new additions to the HBO team, I have no doubt they’ll knock this one out of the park.

Are you looking forward to learning more about Andre the Giant in this new HBO documentary? Do you have a favorite Andre match, moment, or story? I don’t know why these two things stick in my head about Andre, but two little tidbits about the man that make me smile is how he loved to get his arms tied up in the ropes during matches; and how Andre was legitimately scared to death at WrestleMania V (and in leading up to the match) when Jake Roberts threw his python Damien at him. Funny stuff. As always, keep the conversation going by leaving your thoughts in the comment section below.