Joe Exotic wants Brad Pitt or ‘Joe Dirt’ to play him in ‘Tiger King’ biopic

Celebrities like Dax Shepard and Jared Leto are clamoring to play “Tiger King’s” Joe Exotic in a biopic based on the hit Netflix docuseries. Online betters, with sports to wager on, are putting their money on Kevin Bacon in the titular role.

But now, Joe himself has offered an opinion on who should play the role.

“He would like Brad Pitt or David Spade to play him,” “Tiger King” directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, told the Hollywood Reporter.

Only, “he doesn’t refer to David Spade as David Spade — he refers to him as ‘Joe Dirt.’ ”

Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, 57, is currently serving 22 years in prison (convicted in 2019) for animal abuse and for a murder for hire plot to kill Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin — which is chronicled in the smash hit Netflix docuseries.

He is currently in coronavirus isolation in jail (reportedly just as a precaution) so he hasn’t seen “Tiger King” yet, according to his fourth husband Dillon Passage.

While Brad Pitt seems like a vanity choice, Pitt, 56, is the right age now. And in between his cool-guy roles, he’s always displayed Exotic-level acting chops in films like “Burn after Reading” and “Twelve Monkeys.” He also could be game because earlier this year he told Variety, “I’m a little obsessed with comedy right now.”

David Spade, 55, (who made “Joe Dirt” in 2001) is also the right age, and on his talk show “Lights Out with David Spade,” he’s even interviewed several bit players in “Tiger King,” including zoo staffers John Reinke and Kelci “Saff” Saffery.

No big screen biopic based on “Tiger King” has been announced. A scripted series is coming, but Kate McKinnon is the only actor attached so far, playing Baskin.

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