Actors Dax Shepard and Edward Norton are play-fighting over who gets to play the main character in the movie version of the Netflix documentary series Tiger King. The highly buzzed-about and dissected documentary series has been the talk of the internet after making its debut on the platform last week. Netflix has certainly had its fair share of buzzworthy documentaries, having had massive streaming hits such as Making A Murderer and FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened that have penetrated the zeitgeist in ways few documentaries have.
Tiger King follows the stories of several big cat enthusiasts including Joe Exotic, an animal park boss, who gets caught up in a murder-for-hire scheme when Carole Baskin, an animal activist and owner of a big cat sanctuary, threatens to put Exotic and his fellow big cat lovers out of business. The documentary series is seven parts and delves into the rivalry that brews and progressively becomes more heated between Baskin and these eccentric big cat owners.
As a result of the documentary series becoming so successful, fans and celebrities alike are already beginning to cast a possible biopic based on Joe Exotic. Actor Dax Shepard recently took to his official Twitter page and threw his hat in the ring to play the larger than life personality. He feels confident that he would be the ideal choice to play the star of the Netflix series and that Hollywood would be making a grave error if they didn't cast him. However, he may have some competition as acclaimed actor Edward Norton swiftly responded to his tweet, expressing that he would be the better choice.
A biopic of Joe Exotic is certainly not out of the realm of possibility, considering the character's widespread notoriety. Exotic has the kind of real-life personality that countless actors could easily dig their teeth into and bring to life in fun, exciting ways. Hence, it's not surprising to see actors already trying to mark their territory. This is a man that would shoot a human dragged into his lion's cage before harming one of his big cats, after all. Shepard would be an inspired choice to play the man, already bearing a striking resemblance to Exotic in addition to having the quirky, offbeat personality that would complement the role perfectly. It's also always fun to see actors playfully fight with one another over such a role, even more so when a serious actor like Norton enters the ring.
Netflix is no stranger to not only releasing documentaries about infamous real-life personalities but narrative films about them as well. The streaming platform recently released two projects about Ted Bundy, a documentary series titled Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile starring Zac Efron as the notorious serial killer. Naturally, a biopic about Exotic wouldn't feel out of place on the streaming service. It would only shine a larger spotlight on his shocking story in addition to driving more viewers to the documentary series. In the meantime, viewers can binge Tiger King, which is now streaming on Netflix.
Source: Dax Shepard/Twitter