Tiger King: David Spade Says He Can’t Play Joe Exotic, But He Knows Who Should

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness dropped on Netflix in March and has become the Internet’s favorite thing to binge. Shortly after the series debuted, it was announced that it would be adapted into a limited series starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin, a person who the Internet has formed a whole lot of opinions about. While some people aren’t convinced a dramatized version of the docu-series will work, others are lining up to play Joe Exotic, the lively tiger breeder who used to run the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, a zoo that focuses on big cats. While actors like Edward Norton and Dax Shepard have been outspoken about wanting the role, another actor keeps coming up on social media: David Space. Many have compared Exotic to Spade’s character Joe Dirt, and Exotic himself has said he’d like to see Spade (or Brad Pitt) play him. However, while speaking with ET, Spade revealed he doesn’t want the role, but he has some casting suggestions of his own.

“You know, I didn’t think that right away,” Spade tells ET about the comparisons between Exotic and Joe Dirt. “I just thought, ‘Oh, it’s so crazy,’ and then I started thinking, because in the movie everyone knows … that Joe Dirt, I get a job on an alligator farm in Florida and then I get caught in the alligator, he flips me around. That was even scary to do the scene with the fake alligator. I would never do it with a real one. And the whole movie, I started thinking, this is like that whole world that we were into in that movie and it’s very similar and the reason these people are doing interviews is because of Joe Dirt.”

“I don’t know if I could,” he explained about playing Exotic. “That’s why I don’t really push it or jump in on it, with all these funny debates. It just looks too fun. … I know Woody Harrelson is funny as that guy Joe.” He also offered up some suggestions for other characters: “I was thinking Matthew McConaughey for John [Reinke], as the manager,” he added. “The boyfriend — John Finlay — he got his teeth fixed and he said he liked Channing Tatum.” He also suggested that trainer Doc Antle’s wives should be portrayed by Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow. “That would be great, wouldn’t it be? A little Charlie’s Angels back there?” he joked.

Who would you like to see cast in the Tiger King adaptation? Tell us in the comments!

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is now streaming on Netflix.