Tyler Hoechlin Beefs Up in Trailer for Bodybuilding Biopic ‘Bigger’

Tyler Hoechlin is back and bigger than ever in Bigger, the new biopic about fitness aficionados Joe and Ben Weider (Hoechlin and Aneurin Barnard), who battled anti-Semitism and extreme poverty to create a bodybuilding empire that included the International Federation of BodyBuilders, magazines like Muscle and Fitness and Men’s Fitness and the Mr. Olympia competition. They also discovered a young Austrian hunk named Arnold Schwarzenegger, played by Calum von Moger in the bodybuilder biopic.

“The brothers’ story sets a powerful example of what hard work and extreme focus can achieve for the youth of today,” says producer Steve Lee Jones. “These brothers literally changed the world.”

Julianne Hough plays Joe’s wife and partner Betty Weider, while Hoechlin’s Teen Wolf co-star Colton Haynes appears as fitness legend Jack Lalanne, who opened the first health club in America in the 1930s. Schwarzenegger’s rival, the late Sergio Oliva, is played by his son, Sergio Oliva Jr, while bodybuilder Arash Rahbar appears as 1970s muscle icon Frank Zane.

In an Instagram post, Hoechlin called making the film “by far the most challenging thing I’ve taken on in my time working as an actor.”

“It’s a great story about a man who wasn’t afraid to be different, to pursue his passion, and who showed persistence in the face of adversity [and] the amazing woman standing next to him who showed him what love truly was,” Hoechlin says.