Louis Theroux To Front Feature-Length BBC Special On ‘Tiger King’s Joe Exotic
Louis Theroux profiled Joe Exotic before he became the self-styled Tiger King of world renown — and now the British documentarian is returning to Oklahoma to investigate how Joseph Maldonado-Passage became a media phenomenon after his Netflix series.
Produced by Theroux’s production outfit Mindhouse Productions, Louis Theroux: The Cult of Joe Exotic (working title) will reflect on unseen footage from his 10-year-old documentary America’s Most Dangerous Pets. Theroux also meets the team trying to get Exotic out of prison and those closest to him, some of whom have never spoken on camera before.
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Theroux said: “This is one of those quintessentially American stories, taking place in the heartland of Oklahoma, with a cast of characters almost too colourful and larger-than-life to be believed. I spent eight or nine days filming at the park back in 2011, over the course of three separate visits. I’d forgotten how much we shot until I went back into the footage during lockdown. It’s extraordinary how much was there. Since then the story just got stranger and bigger, and in going back at the end of last year I uncovered a real-life drama that took me in directions I never could have expected.”
The 90-minute film is directed by Jack Rampling, while the series producer is Emma Whitehead and the executive producer is Arron Fellows. It is being distributed internationally by BBC Studios. Patrick Holland and Clare Sillery commissioned the film for the BBC.
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