Anyone surprised at the idea of a Tiger King spinoff hasn’t been paying much attention and if that’s the case, meh, you might be better off. As Nick Duffy of Pink News would likely agree the storied feud between big cat enthusiasts Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic has reached a level that’s not exactly the height of entertainment but is more or less still enticing to a lot of people given the shady dealings that have gone on in the exotic animal business for so long. Right now it would appear that a spinoff of the show, featuring Joe and Carole as the main characters most likely, will focus on that same feud and how it escalated throughout the years until it finally culminated into what people have seen today, basically a lengthy prison term for Joe and absolutely no repercussions for Carole other than a bit of PR nonsense brought on by Joe before he was incarcerated. It’s easy to think that Carole has gotten away with quite a bit while posing as the ‘savior’ of the big cats that she takes into her care, but as a lot of people are likely thinking she’s no more of a saint than any of the folks that were shown on the documentary. As far as feeding her missing husband to her cats goes, it’s hard to say since no one would ever know. Seriously, with how cool and calculating this woman and her current husband appear to be it’s likely that if there was evidence at any time it was disposed of in such a meticulous fashion that there would be no body to recover and not one lead to go on.
In speaking of the spinoff however it does appear that Kate McKinnon is the popular choice for playing Carole, though there are a few prospects for Joe at this point. Marta Djordjevic of Nicki Swift has come up with a few other names that might be considered for the spinoff, such as Brad Pitt for the part of Joe, though this almost feels as though it would be a serious downgrade for someone of Pitt’s fame, and John C. Reilly as Doc Antle. That last one’s kind of amusing really since Reilly has been known to do comedy and drama alike and has been just as useful in both capacities, but it’s interesting to think that this might actually nettle Doc just a bit, and that makes some of us laugh even harder given that he’s been the one that’s so adamant that the Netflix documentary is basically trash. It’s not that much fun when someone shines a spotlight on a person’s life and finds things they didn’t want them to see, but Doc has thus far had a way to explain everything and supporters there to tell anyone that will listen his ‘real’ story. And in the meantime he feels just as shady as anyone, but oh well. There are a few other choices being kicked around for the part of Joe, such as Shia LaBeouf, Sam Rockwell, and even Channing Tatum for one reason or another. As one can imagine Joe, who has internet access in prison and is aware of what’s going on, would take any of them given his vain and desperate need to be the center of attention. Somehow it’s escaped his notice however that he’s become a running joke, or he’s chosen to block it out as much as he can.
One thing about the spinoff that anyone should be able to guess at this point is that it’s bound to make a couple of people mad and upset a few of those that were in the documentary since the documentary pissed off a couple of folks since they didn’t feel that it put them in a favorable light. In a way it’s just too difficult to convince a half-blind person that they’re only getting half the picture, which is the case with pretty much everyone that’s been bamboozled into thinking that keeping big cats and other wild animals in pens is a good idea. As Feleg Tesema of Highsnobiety reminds us though this documentary is likely to focus more on the issue of Carole’s missing husband than it will anything else, but the hope is that there’s more to laugh at in the coming spinoff than anything since the Tiger King, depressing as it was in a lot of ways, was still riddled with enough subject matter to qualify as a dark comedy, if the ultimate losers weren’t the animals that had no other choice but to go along with what their keepers were up to. Despite the fact that it’s bound to be more dramatic than anything, the spinoff might be another chance to laugh at the depressingly ridiculous antics of those that believe they’re in the right and won’t be convinced otherwise.
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