Nicholas Cage is out, John Cameron Mitchell is in, and the real Joe Exotic’s prison term has been vacated and will be resentenced in the Land of the Tiger King.
Flowing Along: Following the success of Netflix Inc’s (NASDAQ: NFLX) docuseries “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness,” the life and crimes of controversial zoo operator Joe Exotic – whose birth name is Joseph Allen Schreibvogel and later changed his identity to Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage – became a hot property in Hollywood, with rival productions vying for his attention.
The Peacock streaming service from Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has received its first order and is already filming its “Joe Exotic” series, which stars Mitchell in the titular role, Kate McKinnon as his antagonist Carole Baskin, and Kyle MacLachlan as her husband Howard.
Cage had been set to feature in his own series for Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), but the Oscar winner told Variety that the project was taking too long to create.
“It’s time to clear the air,” Cage added. “I read two fantastic screenplays, both of which I thought were excellent, but I believe Amazon finally decided that the content had become past tense due to the length of time it took to come together. They thought it was lightning in a bottle at one point, but that feeling has faded into the distance and is no longer relevant.”
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In Court With You: Meanwhile, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed Exotic’s 22-year jail sentence, ruling that a previous court made an error by not merging both of his murder-for-hire convictions. His convictions were upheld, and he will be sentenced at a later date, despite his sentence being vacated.
While jail, Exotic has kept himself busy. He was just crowned the winner of the Social Media Superstar Awards and is a partner in a new cannabis product line bearing his name. He used a three-minute audio recording of his acceptance speech to denounce his incarceration as a “conspiracy” and a “obstruction of justice,” and to appeal to President Biden for clemency.
Netflix sent this image of Joe Exotic and a pal.
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