If you’ve been on the Internet at all in the past few weeks, you’ve probably seen discourse surrounding Netflix’s Tiger King. The documentary series has captured the attention of so many, thanks to its larger-than-life characters and stranger-than-fiction events. Almost as soon as audiences began binge-watching Tiger King, they began to wonder who could and should play the cast of characters in an eventual narrative adaptation. With a fictional miniseries of the story already in the works starring Saturday Night Live and Ghostbusters‘ Kate McKinnon, fans began throwing out options of who else could play — and it looks like one fan-favorite has entered the fray. Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit’s Taika Waititi recently took to Instagram to respond to a fan-made photoshop of himself, which imagines him as the Tiger King himself, Joe Exotic. As Waititi joked, anyone who can successfully have “that hair” photoshopped onto them might be able to write, direct, and star in an adaptation of the bonkers story.
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I feel if you add that hair to anybody they could also write, direct, and star in it. https://t.co/28qsRZ2sI3
— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) April 9, 2020
The topic of a Tiger King adaptation has taken over the Internet as of late, with people trying to concoct their perfect all-star cast for adapting the story. For Joe Exotic in particular, the popular possibilities have ranged from Michael Keaton to Sam Rockwell to Dax Shepard. But according to Tiger King co-director Rebecca Chaiklin, Joe has a specific duo of people in mind to portray him.
“He would like Brad Pitt or David Spade to play him,” Chaiklin said in a recent interview. “He doesn’t refer to David Spade as David Spade — he refers to him as ‘Joe Dirt’.”
Tiger King – which chronicles Joe’s rise to local fame and eventual arrest in a murder-for-hire plot, reportedly had over 34 million unique viewers in the first ten days of its debut. If you’re not familiar with the series, you can check out its official synopsis below.
“Among the eccentrics and cult personalities in the stranger-than-fiction world of big cat owners, few stand out more than Joe Exotic, a mulleted, gun-toting polygamist and country-western singer who presides over an Oklahoma roadside zoo. Charismatic but misguided, Joe and an unbelievable cast of characters including drug kingpins, conmen, and cult leaders all share a passion for big cats, and the status and attention their dangerous menageries garner. But things take a dark turn when Carole Baskin, an animal activist and owner of a big cat sanctuary, threatens to put them out of business, stoking a rivalry that eventually leads to Joe’s arrest for a murder-for-hire plot, and reveals a twisted tale where the only thing more dangerous than a big cat is its owner.”
Would you want to see Taika Waititi involved with a Tiger King adaptation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
(Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
