Joe “Exotic” Maldonado-Passage might have risen to fame with last year’s Tiger King: Murder, Madness, and Mayhem, but famed BBC documentarian Louis Theroux previously chronicled the figure back in 2011, with the BBC confirming that Theroux is developing an all-new feature-length documentary exploring the figure, per The Hollywood Reporter. The project, which is currently titled “Louis Theroux: The Cult of Joe Exotic,” will revisit the various events that have unfolded in the world of exotic-animal ownership in the decade since he last chronicled Exotic, in addition to depicting the fandom that Exotic has earned in the time since his incarceration.
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“This is one of those quintessentially American stories, taking place in the heartland of Oklahoma, with a cast of characters almost too colorful and larger-than-life to be believed,” Theroux shared in a statement. “I spent eight or nine days filming at the park back in 2011, over the course of three separate visits. I’d forgotten how much we shot until I went back into the footage during lockdown. It’s extraordinary how much was there. Since then the story just got stranger and bigger, and in going back at the end of last year I uncovered a real-life drama that took me in directions I never could have expected.”
The Hollywood Reporter described the project “Heading back to Oklahoma, Theroux will explore what has happened since, with the big cat man now residing in a federal prison, having been found guilty of a murder-for-hire plot and multiple animal cruelty charges. But rather than a pariah, Exotic is now a media phenomenon with a well-funded campaign team who were attempting to win him a presidential pardon.”
“In this follow-up to Louis’ revelatory first-look at the life of Joe Exotic in America’s Most Dangerous Pets, viewers will be taken even more deeply into the weird world of one of America’s most notorious figures,” Clare Sillery, BBC’s head of commissioning, documentaries, history, and religion, added. “This feature-length special will be full to the brim with never-before-seen footage and brand new interviews with those on all sides of the Joe Exotic story.”
Exotic is currently serving a 22-year sentence for multiple counts of animal abuse and his hiring of someone to attempt to kill Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin. A variety of dramatizations of the ordeal are being developed, including one project which will see Nicolas Cage playing Exotic, with Baskin recently being a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.
Stay tuned for details on the new Joe Exotic special.
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