Julianne Hough and Tyler “Superman” Hoechlin are showing off their beach bods in the first look at Bigger, the rags to riches story about bodybuilding icons Joe and Ben Weider. The muscular biopic is based on the siblings’ memoir and directed by George Gallo, with Kevin Durand (The Strain) and Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk) co-starring. Here is the official synopsis:
In the depths of the Great Depression a scrawny, dirt-poor Jewish kid with a seventh-grade education picked up a barbell and got hooked on weight training. Building his muscles gave him confidence and hope for a better life. He pledged to make the great, transforming power of strength training available to everyone and to give bodybuilding all the glory it deserved. The kid, Joe Weider, enlisted his younger brother Ben in his quest, and together the Weider brothers accomplished things much bigger than Joe’s boyhood dreams. The little muscle magazine Joe started, working at his family’s dining room table, grew into a publishing empire. From a backyard barbell business, Joe and Ben built equipment and food supplement companies each as big as Weider Publishing. And they transformed bodybuilding into a hugely successful sport, organized under one of the largest and best-run athletic federations in the world.
I’m still waiting to find out if there will be an appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had his big break when he won the Mr. Olympia competition that the Weiders founded. Maybe they can borrow the CGI Arnold model from Terminator Salvation?
