The "tiger king" himself, Joe Exotic, has some ideas about which Hollywood actors he would like to portray him onscreen in a hypothetical film about his life, and his choices could not be more opposite. The currently incarcerated star of the wildly popular Netflix docu-series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, spoke to the show's co-director Rebecca Chaiklin about how thrilled he is about the success of the show. While he may currently be serving 22 years in prison for ordering a hit on his nemesis, Florida tiger sanctuary-owner Carole Baskin, Joe, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, would love for the adaptations of his life and the big cat conservatory world to continue. In fact, Chaiklin told The Hollywood Reporter that Joe knows exactly who should portray him onscreen—well, not exactly, considering he doesn't seem to know the real name of one of these actors.
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“[Joe] would like Brad Pitt or David Spade to play him," Chaiklin revealed; however, "he doesn’t refer to David Spade as David Spade." Instead, Joe knows Spade best as one of his most famous fictional characters who bears the same first name as the "tiger king": Joe Dirt from Spade's 2001 film of the same name.
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While plenty of fellow actors, such as Edward Norton and Dax Shepard, have expressed interest in taking on the role of Joe Exotic in a potential film adaptation of the docu-series, Spade and Pitt are Joe's top picks.
Spade even spoke to one of the Netflix series' stars, Saff Saffery, about who should play Joe, and Saff was definitely in favour of Spade taking on the role.
"Tiger King" Star John Finlay Talks Never Being Legally Married To Joe Exotic
"Tiger King" is the docuseries that everyone's talking about, and one of its stars has a new set of teeth and a mouth full of revelations.
*Spoilers* The Tiger King wave is the latest documentary craze to take over social media. The Netflix series is one of the more bizarre shows that the streaming network has offered this year thus far, and it's clear that Joe Exotic is on his way to becoming a cult classic icon. The incarcerated star is being held behind bars on charges related to allegations that he attempted to hire a hitman to kill his big cat-loving nemesis, Carole Baskins. Aside from the mystery surrounding Carole's missing husband, another wild take from Tiger King was Joe Exotic's ability to persuade "straight" men to marry him while delivering drugs to feed their addictions.
One of Joe Exotic's husbands, John Finlay, revealed that not only has he fixed his teeth, but he was never legally married to Joe. Finlay sat down with David Spade to chat about his newfound fame and to dish on the docuseries that has shaken the world. Now that he's off drugs and has a brand new grill, he's barely recognizable. Finlay revealed that after his relationship with Joe was over, he ran off with a woman and had a child. Now, he's engaged to someone else and has put his relationship with Joe behind him.
John Finlay also shared that he was never legally married to Joe or their third partner, Travis Maldonado (who died after accidentally shooting himself in the head). Watch David Spade attempt to deliver jokes that John Finlay just didn't catch in their 10-minute social distancing interview below.