The Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival has achieved significant worldwide impact since it was founded in 2017. This year, the 8th edition will take place from November 8th to 17th in Tenerife, and the organisers have announced their first special guest: American actor and bodybuilding icon Lou Ferrigno, renowned for his lead role as ‘The Incredible Hulk’.
Ferrigno, still active in the industry, will receive the Isla Calavera Legend of the Fantastic Award at the iconic Teatro Leal de La Laguna and will participate in a special event at Multicines Tenerife, the festival's screening venue.
Born in New York to an Italian-American family, Ferrigno won several bodybuilding tournaments in the early 70s, including Mr America and Mr Universe, the latter title he claimed twice consecutively in 1973 and 1974, becoming the youngest competitor to win the award.
He also competed alongside his rival Arnold Schwarzenegger in the acclaimed documentary ‘Pumping Iron’, which chronicles the competition for the 1975 Mr Olympia title.
Ferrigno made his television debut in the series ‘The Incredible Hulk’ (1978-1982), the first adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero to the screen, playing the original Hulk in an unforgettable duo with Bill Bixby.
He reprised the role in the TV movies ‘The Incredible Hulk Returns’ (1988), ‘The Trial of the Incredible Hulk’ (1989), and ‘The Death of the Incredible Hulk’ (1990).
Ferrigno also portrayed the son of Zeus in ‘Hercules’ (1983) and its sequel ‘The Adventures of Hercules’ (1985), directed by Italian filmmaker Luigi Cozzi, and starred in ‘Sinbad of the Seven Seas’ (1989), based on the character from ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, co-directed by Cozzi and Enzo G. Castellari, who received the Isla Calavera Honorary Award in 2018.
In the 90s animated series ‘The Incredible Hulk’, Ferrigno voiced the green giant and made a surprise cameo as a security guard in Ang Lee's 2003 film ‘Hulk’. He later lent his voice to the character again in Louis Leterrier’s ‘The Incredible Hulk’ (2008).
More recently, Ferrigno appeared in the acclaimed TV series ‘The Offer’, portraying professional wrestler and actor Lenny Montana, famous for his role as Luca Brasi in Francis Ford Coppola's ‘The Godfather’. He is also set to star in the upcoming horror film ‘The Hermit’, playing the lead role.
At the last Isla Calavera Festival, the Legend of the Fantastic Award was presented to actor Sam J. Jones, who rose to fame with the 1980 classic ‘Flash Gordon’, based on the comic book character created by Alex Raymond.
