Nicolas Cage to Play ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic in New Scripted Series
After months of rabid Tiger King fans wondering which actor would play the Joe Exotic in the inevitable scripted series, it seems we now have our answer, and that answer makes perfect sense: Nicolas Cage.
According to a report by Variety, a new eight-episode scripted series is in the works, but it’s not based on the Netflix documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, which caused a frenzy while the world had just begun quarantining. Instead, the production—which isn’t attached to a network or streaming platform yet—is being developed from a Texas Monthly article, “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild.” The story will follow Joe Schreibvogel, “an eccentric, exotic zookeeper in Oklahoma who fights to keep his park even at the risk of losing his sanity.”
“The series will live in the lion’s den with Joe,” Variety reports, as well as “explore how he became Joe Exotic, and how he lost himself to a character of his own creation.”
Who better to play this over-the-top human than Nicolas Cage, who’s consistently demolished bizarre characters like Big Daddy in Kick-Ass, while winning the Oscar for best actor in Leaving Las Vegas. That’s called range.
According to the publication, this will be Cage’s first television role in his vast career. Unfortunately, this is not the same series that cast Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin. That series—which we also don’t have details about in terms of network or streaming platform—is based on the hit Wonderly podcast Joe Exotic, but what a pairing that would have been.
Though the news is still fresh, there are some on Twitter already reacting to this unexpected mash-up. “This has the potential to be the BEST worst thing EVER,” on Twitter user wrote.
“He probably already has the outfit and owns tigers and everything,” another pointed out.
Still, Cage is far from the only celebrity who wants in on this, as one fan noted. “Dax Shepard is not going to be happy about it,” they wrote, resharing a tweet by Shepard.
At least he still has a shot to play Exotic on McKinnon’s series.
Originally Appeared on Glamour
