Joe vs Carole star John Cameron Mitchell has revealed that he was “encouraged not to” speak to Joe Exotic before portraying him in the upcoming comedy.
The actor, who stars alongside Kate McKinnon in NBC’s dramatisation of the events documented by Netflix’s Tiger King, told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview that he didn’t want to reach out to Exotic after hearing his reaction to his casting.
When asked whether he wanted to speak to Joe Exotic before filming the Joe vs Carole, Mitchell said: “No – I really didn’t.
“I mean, production encouraged not to. We also wanted to be impartial. We’re not on Joe or Carole’s side. And you know, he would demand to see the script. It would just be a nightmare.”
Mitchell added that when Exotic reacted to the show’s casting on Twitter in July 2021, writing that Mitchell would make his looking like a “flaming [redacted homophobic slur]“, it didn’t make him want to reach out.
“I think if he sees it…I think he’s actually going to be shocked at how humanised it’s made him. He’s a real person in this. In the docuseries, he’s a cartoon of his own creation, but in this case, he’s a real person with feelings and understandable feelings.
“So he can mock us as much as he wants and he can say, ‘That’s not how it happened!’ But nothing is exactly how it happened unless you’re shooting it on your iPhone,” he continued. “We’re an interpretation. I’m not imitating him, I’m doing an interpretation.
“All those events didn’t happen exactly the way they happened but the feeling of that, the spirit of it, I believe was truthful.”
Joe vs Carole premieres on Peacock, exclusively available on Sky and NOW in the UK on Friday 4th March. Check out our Drama hub for more news, interviews and features or find something to watch with our TV guide.
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