‘Tiger King’ miniseries to star a Cage and a tiger
Tiger Cage is headed to the tiger cage.
Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage reportedly is being cast to portray Joe Exotic of “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” in a scripted, eight-episode series being produced by CBS. The project has not yet found a network home.
The 56-year-old Cage, who has a residence in Las Vegas, is also executive producer for the project. He’s been enlisted to portray Exotic (whose legal name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage), who currently is serving 22 years in prison for attempted murder for hire against rival zoo operator Carole Baskin and killing five of his tigers, among other charges.
The limited series starring Cage is based on a June 2019 Texas Monthly article by Leif Reigstad titled “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild.” Cage has been in talks since April to play the lead role.
In November, The Hollywood Reporter broke a story that Cage was to play a Cage-like character in Quentin Tarantino’s “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.”
Cage also made news in March 2019 when he and then-girlfriend Erika Koike were married and then filed for an annulment within five days. The short-lived nuptials were held at Bellagio.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
