Check out the official trailer for Bigger, the new biopic that chronicles the lives of Joe and Ben Weider, who rose from poverty to become the indisputable leaders in the bodybuilding industry for over 50 years.
Instinct initially wrote about the film last year when it was announced the project had cast former Teen Wolf co-stars Tyler Hoechlin (as Joe Weider) and Colton Haynes TV fitness guru Jack LaLanne) to head up the film.
Weider and his brother Ben (played by Aneurin Barnard) are widely credited with creating the modern bodybuilding/fitness movement.
From their fitness publishing empire that included Muscle & Fitness, Muscle Power and Shape magazines to Weider Nutrition founded in 1936, to founding the International Federation of Bodybuilders in 1946, the Weiders were THE leading force in bodybuilding for decades.
In 1967, the IFBB launched its first competition, the world-renowned Mr. Olympia.
Weider is also credited with mentoring the young bodybuilder Arnold Scwarzenegger (played by Instagram celeb/bodybuilder Calum Von Moger) in the early 1970s.
But in the 1970s and 1980s, the brothers found themselves the target of several investigations regarding claims of false advertising about their products.
Haynes’ character, Jack LaLanne, became famous as America’s first TV fitness star in the 1950s, long before Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda thought about ‘feeling the burn.’
LaLanne’s TV show, running from 1953 to 1985, championed regular exercise and nutrition.
Writer/director Joe Gallo (Bad Boys, Midnight Run) describes the film to Deadline as “beyond inspirational, and will resonate with not only the massive crowd of those who have found the balance of body and mind as essential for a healthy life but also the throngs of people that were inspired by Joe and his Mr. Olympia events.”
The flick also stars Julianne Hough as “Betty Weider” and Billy Reilich (Ellen’s TV ‘gardener’) as English bodybuilder “Reg Park.”
Bigger arrives in theaters October 12.
It looks like revisionist
It looks like revisionist crap. Weider built an empire exploiting the sexiness of the male body and homosexual men to buy his products. There is more homosexuality in bodybuilding than are women in that field. Even more, homosexual men created bodybuilding from its very foundations: the Greek body ideal in ancient Greece.
Are we really supposed to believe heterosexual men love to gaze at muscular men flaunting their nearly naked bodies? Come one!
Completely agree. Though the
Completely agree. Though the pose of a beautiful woman sitting on a man's arms was a sign of hetero-normative seduction, almost everyone who bought those magazine seemed gay to me. When I'd go look at the magazines (my parents would not let me buy them even if it was to get ideas of how to exercise and work out!), I'd see older men giving me furtive glances, hiding the magazines under or inside of other purchases, and quick exits. ….. Ahh the "good old days!" 😉