Nicolas Cage is set to play Joe Exotic, the star of Netflix’s true crime docuseries Tiger King that became an instant cult classic during our time in quarantine. Anyone who is the least bit familiar with both characters’ work and larger-than-life auras is bound to be excited by this news.
Even more interestingly, this potentially iconic role will be in an 8-episode series, marking Cage’s first ever TV appearance, and it’s almost as if he has been saving himself for this role all along. If Donald Trump, Kenny Powers from Eastbound & Down, and a stereotypical pop diva along the lines of Jennifer Lopez somehow had a child, it’d be Joe Exotic – an outlandish gay redneck polygamist who is, or rather was, the proud owner of a private zoo, a mullet, countless guns, and two generally straight husbands he converted into homosexuality by supplying them with meth. In other words, Joe Exotic is an eccentric actor’s delight, and Cage isn’t exactly known for being subtle.
In all seriousness though, Joe Exotic is the type of character to generate a lot of attention from both fans and critics alike, and despite the relatively mediocre and banal productions Cage has been a part of in recent years, he used to be an actor’s actor, and this performance could remind everyone of that.
Like Netflix’s Tiger King, the adaptation will actually be based on the Texas Monthly article, “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild” by Leif Reigstad. It will be produced by CBS Television Studios and Imagine Television Studios, which optioned the rights to the article back in June 2019.
And while this is surely the most prominent production to carry Joe Exotic’s torch, it’s not the only one. A limited series, titled Joe Exotic, starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin (Joe Exotic’s arch-nemesis), is already in production and has long been, since before Tiger King was ever released on Netflix. The show is based on the Wondery podcast Joe Exotic. And besides Cage, we might get to see Rob Lowe inhibit Joe Exotic as well.
