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.
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.
"[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
http://www.350daysthemovie.com/. You can hear the interview below.
