Lou Ferrigno Believes He Was The Best Version of 'The Hulk'

[Brian Damage]

There’s a weird thing that happens to aging actors who have appeared in beloved cult classics. I suspect they spend so much time hanging around people with who are obsessed with whatever show they were in that they start to assume that everyone was obsessed with that show, and attach a much greater importance to it than it actually has. It’s kind of like writing a movie blog and assuming everyone cares about Joss Whedon. If you watch Best Worst Movie you can actually see this effect as it happens, when gregarious Troll 2 star George Hardy goes from being a demigod at Troll 2 conventions to unrecognized everywhere else, and can’t quite wrap his mind around why (great movie if you haven’t seen it, incidentally).

No one in the world seems to have been affected by this phenomenon more strongly than Lou Ferrigno, who played The Hulk for five years in the late seventies and now doesn’t seem to walk three feet without doing a Hulk pose. You’d think he might’ve developed some perspective on this by now, but… well, he really, really hasn’t.

“I know exactly what needed to come out from inside of him,” Ferrigno told Hollywood.com. “[Having done] the TV series, I know how The Hulk thinks and feels.”

I blame Entertainment Tonight-type interviewers for constantly asking actors for backstory about characters they didn’t write. “What can you tell us about Robocop’s childhood?” Actors aren’t that smart. They have to answer those long enough, they start think the Hulk is a person and that they’re the only person who understands him.


Ferrigno is blunt: “CGI can’t compare to the human Hulk.”
Much like his predecessors, director Joss Whedon has stated that he hopes to revive the magic Believes of the Bixby/Ferrigno show. With Ruffalo actually portraying The Hulk, that may finally be possible. But not without a little help from Ferrigno, of course. “I did the voice of The Hulk for The Avengers. The growl, everything.”


“Sensitivity. It came right through the make-up. We relate to him because when you look at the human Hulk, you feel like that kind of person. When you’re angry, when you’re emotionally depressed. The Hulk does it for you. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, that’s what made the show magic.”
“I do conventions and almost every person knows, when I come to the convention, that I’m doing the voice of The Hulk and they get excited. They have the motivation, they want to connect with The Hulk. They know.”

http://www.hollywood.com/news/The_Hu...ovies/25822587

[Mr. Television]

He's right. He was the best Hulk and probably always will be. He made the Hulk very human.

[The Flying Dutchmans]

I agree with Stuck in the 70s. At least he was human and not some CGI fantasy. I really think Ferrigno was a wonderful Hulk, who also had more compassion. He wouldn't have attacked a person who was begging him not too as the Hulk did in the Avengers.

[robyrob]

he's entitled to an opinion, and a lot of people agree with him. i think its great that he engages fans by being the Hulk for them - a lot of actors are jerks about it when they are too closely associated with their character, but he embraces it and appreciates his fans.

...and he was the best Hulk, if i wanted to watch a CGI cartoon version of the Hulk, I'd just watch the cartoon.

[Retro4Life]

Well, first of all, the author of that article is disgustingly snide and insulting of Mr. Ferrigno.

That aside, I agree with Lou and everyone else. Ferrigno's Hulk was the only time a human played the character and it really was superior to any CGI they can offer. The conflict, the rage, etc, just can't be brought out as well with a simulation. You can't root for a collection of pixels. I'd extend that to any and all human vs. computer performances. Now I loved Ed Norton in the role originated by Bill Bixby (chiefly because Norton has said he played it as a strong homage to Bixby) but you just can't beat Ferrigno.

[The Flying Dutchmans]

You know robyrob brings up an interesting point too. Lou did embrace his character. But I wonder if it was because his character "The Incredible Hulk" had the one thing that Ferrigno sought to be all of his life? A powerful superhuman kind of man?