Nicolas Cage to play Tiger King's Joe Exotic in the first TV series role of his career

Variety

The Oscar-winning actor has signed on to star in an eight-episode scripted series on the Netflix Tiger King subject Joe Exotic from Imagine Television Studios and CBS Television Studios. The untitled series, which will be shopped to networks and streaming services, is based on Leif Reigstad's 2019 Texas Monthly article “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild." This is the second Joe Exotic scripted series in the works following the untitled series based on the Wondery podcast Over My Dead Body: Joe Exotic, announced lates last year, starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin. The Cage Joe Exotic series, from former American Vandal showrunner Dan Lagana, will explore how Joe Schreibvogel transformed into eccentric and exotic zookeeper Joe Exotic. In fact, Cage is 10 months younger than Joe Exotic. Cage's first acting role was in the 1981 TV pilot/TV movie Best of Times. But other than that, he has never had a TV acting role. The announcement of Cage's casting comes after several high-profile celebrities, including Dax Shepard, Edward Norton and Thomas Lennon openly vied to play Joe Exotic. ALSO: Carole Baskin says being pranked was a "very welcome good laugh."