Late last year, UCP announced that it was creating a limited series based on the second season of the podcast Over My Dead Body. The podcast told the true story of Carole Baskin, a big cat activist caught in the cross heirs of fellow animal enthusiast Joe Exotic, an eccentric (seriously, he’s something) character who allegedly hated Baskin so much that he hired someone to kill her.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before...
That’s right, UCP’s planned limited series is based on the story behind Netflix’s docuseries Tiger King. As you may have heard, Tiger King has become a major smash, taking the currently-quarantined world by storm. It seems like people are only talking about two things: COVID-19 and Tiger King, the show is that popular. It’s a wild documentary that follows the entire sordid affair, including Exotic’s attempted hit on Baskin and the various bizarre characters in his orbit. It’s like the Coen Brothers meets Jerry Springer. It’s larger-than-life. It’s almost too wild to believe. It’s must-see TV.
And it’s obviously great news for that proposed series that was announced last year. The success of the docuseries is bringing a lot of attention to the UCP production, which is still on and has Saturday Night Live standout Kate McKinnon set to produce and star as Baskin. Now that Tiger King is such a huge hit, you can bet UCP will have its choice at the rest of casting. They could be landing some big, big names to fill the rest of the call sheet. Some have suggested Sam Rockwell for the meaty part of Joe Exotic but I think UCP is out of their minds if they don’t attempt to cast Michael Keaton since Exotic is like a redneck version of Beetlejuice. There are plenty of other ridiculous characters in the story so it would be an actor’s field day. UCP is probably pinching themselves because of the sky-rocketing desire for their project.
UCP hasn’t set up a network to carry its series but the interest is much, much higher for the project now and a bidding war is probably inevitable. It’s likely that their Joe Exotic show will be one of the most anticipated shows of 2021. You can thank Netflix and a self-isolating country desperate for fun entertainment for that.