It’s no secret that celebrities are basically lining up to play the character that is Joe Exotic in any and all
Tiger King movies and TV shows. Dax Shepard and Ed Norton have both thrown their hats
into the social media ring,
SNL star Kate McKinnon was one of the first to jump on the train by snapping up rights
to develop her own project based on a podcast, and others like Sarah Hyland are basically doing Tiger King,
but make it fashion. Those big cats are really giving people life during quarantine.One celebrity who has been kind of quiet about the whole fad though is Nicolas Cage. So there were plenty of fans out there who considered themselves shook when
Variety reported Cage has been cast as Joe Exotic in an upcoming televised series revolving around the larger-than-life character. The publication
broke the news on May 4, revealing that the role is the first regular television role in the Oscar-winning actor’s career.The eight-part series is based on the June 2019
Texas Monthly article “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey into the World of a Man Gone Wild,” and follows Joe Schreibvogel as he transitions into Joe Exotic, fights to keep his big cat park going in Oklahoma, and eventually loses “himself to a character of his own creation.” According to
Variety, CBS TV Studios optioned the article and now they’re teaming with Imagine Entertainment—aka Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s joint—to make this thing come to life.Fans everywhere may be wondering whether 56-year-old Cage, who is only one year younger than Joe Exotic, can pull off such a colourful dude. The actor is known for rom-coms like
Leaving Las Vegas and
Moonstruck, along with action flicks like
Face/Off,
National Treasure and
Ghost Rider. If he does manage to capture Exotic’s mannerisms, accent and look, it will certainly be memorable. In the meantime no other casting has been announced just yet, but as anyone who watched the Netflix documentary knows there are plenty of other character shoes to fill, from Joe’s husbands to his No. 1 enemy, Carole Baskin.Since
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness hit the streaming service on March 20 it’s basically become ingrained in pop culture. In the first 10 days it supposedly reached an audience of
34.3 million unique viewers, which is basically unheard of these days. Since then there have been dozens and dozens of parodies popping up online as people everywhere find things to fill their self-isolation days with."You know it would be nice if I could actually see me being famous out there, but I've seen these same four walls for a year and a half now," Joe Exotic said in a
video from prison following the series’ release. "I'm done with the Carole Baskin saga. It's now time to turn the tables and get out of jail a free man and exonerated from all these charges." No word yet on whether he'll get out in time to see Cage tackle his life on the small screen.[video_embed id='1932622']Before you go: Boyfriend volunteers his hair to be used for practice by hairstylist girlfriend[/video_embed]
