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John Cameron Mitchell completely unrecognisable as he transforms into Joe Exotic for Tiger King adaptation
Caption: John Cameron Mitchell as Joe Exotic
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Filming for Peacock’s adaptation of Netflix’s docu-series Tiger King is currently underway, and we’re floored by John Cameron Mitchell’s transformation into Joe Exotic.
While Amazon’s scripted series with Nicolas Cage playing the zoo owner has been axed, filming for this version is all steam ahead.
John is best known as the creator and star of Broadway show Hedwig And The Angry Inch, and he’s currently taking on the convict – whose real name is Joe Maldonado-Passage – as his fight with Big Cat Rescue activist Carole Baskin continues to spiral out of control.
The series – which is simply titled Joe Exotic – will retell the story of the pair’s clash over animal rights and animal abuse.
But as the rivalry continues to escalate, including million-dollar lawsuits for copyright infringement, murder accusations and attempts to shut the zoo down, things begin to get more and more out of hand.
The 58-year-old actor was spotted on set in Brisbane, Australia, as he filmed a scene for the series.
John sporting his wild blonde wig (Picture: BACKGRID)
The real Joe Exotic (Picture: AP)
He looks every bit the eccentric character, with a brown leather jacket with fringing and a bleached blonde mullet.
John was first tapped to play the Joe back in May, with Kate McKinnon as Carole, Kyle MacLachlan, Dean Winters as Jeff Lowe and Nat Wolff as Joe’s first husband Travis Maldonado.
Also featured in the cast are Dennis Quaid as Joe’s reality show producer Rick Kirkham and Brian Van Holt as zoo manager John Reinke.
In an interview with Page Six earlier this year John discussed his connection to the contentious figure.
‘I grew up in a lot of the places he lived in. So I kind of know something about him. We’re the exact same age within six weeks,’ he said.
John was pictured filming in a yellow helicopter (Credits: BACKGRID)
He looked mighty convincing as Joe (Picture: BACKGRID)
‘When you grow up queer in that environment, you hate yourself because everybody hated you. And his way of dealing with it was to imitate his oppressor.
‘Get a gun and say, “I’m more of a f***ing a**hole than you are. I’ve got my hand in a tiger’s mouth. My other hand around my three boyfriends.” So in some way, you do admire this kind of pathetic desire to outdo his oppressor.’
More: Joe Exotic
The actor added that while he doesn’t condone the behaviour, he doesn’t condone it, as you end up ‘becoming the a**hole that you hated’.
In 2019, a jury convicted Joe guilty of 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two counts of attempted murder for hire in a plan to assassinate Big Cat Rescue’s CEO, Baskin.
He currently remains in prison.
A release date for Joe Exotic is yet to be announced.
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