Paul Wight Discuss Playing Gus Hoffman In Marcus, Transition From Wrestling To Acting
Paul Wight will be gracing the big screen this week once again. Now playing Gus Hoffman in the movie Marcus, it's been 26 years since his silver screen debut.
The former Big Show has been an actor officially since 1996 in the film Reggie's Prayer and has continued to be featured in films over the years. Seen in MacGruber, The Waterboy, Knucklehead, and has even had his own Netflix series, The Big Show Show.
Wight can be seen as a frequent commentator for AEW web show, AEW Dark Elevation but has also made a handful of appearances on Dynamite and has competed in the ring.
Paul Wight On Playing Gus Hoffman
The movie was released in theaters and digital cinema on July 15, 2022. The film was originally set to release in 2020, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was pushed back until now. Wight’s character, Gus Hoffman is a security guard with a close relationship with Marcus (Owen Miller) as Marcus is dealing with his worst enemy, himself.
Speaking with on-air personality MuscleManMalcolm, Wight discussed how he was able to pull off this role:
“Originally I wasn't supposed to have a part in this film. I was helping produce it. I liked the message about the film. I like the character because yes, Gus is an imposing typical security guard, but not to steal a line from Shrek, but there's layers to Gus as well. He’s not your typical security guard. In the interactions with Marcus in this film, Gus in his own way is someone trying to understand what Marcus is going through. Even though it was a small thing to look at it's a really important dynamic for the character because it's not a typical part I’d be offered of being this big and intimidating guy…”
Paul Wight On The Transition From Basketball, Wrestling, & Acting
Originally, Wight was a basketball player, playing reserve center for Wichita State University before becoming a professional wrestler. He would be introduced to Hulk Hogan after working for a karaoke company that had a celebrity baseball game.
RELATED: 10 Things You Should Know About Thunder In Paradise, Hulk Hogan's Failed TV ShowHogan would instantly see Wight’s size and would help him get into WCW. From there he’d quickly become the WCW World Champion and joined the nWo known as The Giant. He would make his WWE debut in 1999 when he attacked Stone Cold Steve Austin in an effort to assist Mr. McMahon at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre: In Your House.
Then named as the Big Show, he would become the WWE World Champion twice, main event WrestleMania, and hold many other championships including the World Heavyweight Championship and ECW World Championship. The only wrestler to win the world titles in the big 3 companies. A first-class Hall of Famer, Wight decided to leave WWE in 2021 and shockingly signed with Tony Khan’s AEW.
Now, in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Wight works with a lot of the up-and-coming talent in effort to build the next generation while he continues to work on projects outside of wrestling. He’s appeared in infomercials like NASCAR Xfinity Series, hip pop music videos, winning the Slime Wrestling World Championship at the Kid’s Choice Awards, and has even been featured in Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, winning $15,000 for the United Service Organization.
Acting for Wight is his third realm of entertainment after basketball and wrestling. Speaking to Wight, he talks about what was the most challenging transition: basketball to wrestling or acting:
“Really I wouldn't say they're hard transitions, they're just different transitions of pushing yourself. Basketball was about being an athlete, being a team player. You had to learn how to play on a team to be coached on a team. Wrestling was kind of the same thing even though it's an individual star sport, it's still a team sport because you're working for a company. There are about 25 to 35 guys and gals that are on the road every weekend trying to sell tickets trying to make the company money, trying to make yourselves money. So that becomes very team-oriented as well. When you're doing a film, it's pretty much team-oriented as well because just got different characters and actors, electricians, grips, make-up, wardrobe, directors, and producers. It's all a team to put this vision of this picture together throughout this. I get the team aspect, but there are also opportunities to excel individually. In basketball, you can score a lot of points, block a lot of shots, and get a lot of rebounds, in wrestling you can win championships, and in acting, you get a chance every now and then to have a performance that you remember that has some impact…”
The full interview with Paul Wight can be seen here:
