Well, this seems pre-destined... With Tiger King still a huge pop culture sensation, various famous folk have thrown their baseball caps into the ring as possibilities to play wild animal park owner Joe Schreibvogel – AKA "Joe Exotic" – including Rob Lowe and Kevin Bacon. But one has emerged with an official project, and Nicolas Cage will take on the role for a new limited TV series.
Right now, American Vandal showrunner Dan Lagana is overseeing the show, that is bubbling away in development and based on a Texas Monthly articled called "Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into The World Of A Man Gone Wild,” by Leif Reigstad, which Lagana and producer Paul Young optioned back last year. The massive impact of Netflix's Tiger King obviously helped push it forward, but Cage is a big get. Particularly since this would mark his first time as a regular a TV series, even if the current plan only calls for eight episodes. Lagana and Imagine Entertainment are about to shop the series around various networks and streaming services, and we can't imagine it'll be long before it is snapped up.
The show's basic story will focus on the 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, explore how he became Joe Exotic, and how he lost himself to a character of his own creation. The real Schreibvogel is in prison right now, so you know the story didn't go well, even if you haven't watched the Netflix doc.
And this is only the latest Exotic-spawned project to go official, following the similarly scripted series which has Kate McKinnon producing and starring as Joe's animal rights nemesis (with her own dark issues), Carole Baskin.