Joe Exotic: Why John Cameron Mitchell clawed to play ‘Tiger King’

A TV show going by the title “Joe Exotic” will be shot in Australia but it won’t be based on its Netflix namesake.

Twenty years ago he carved a place in film folklore when he wrote and starred in the chaotic rock opera Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Now US actor, playwright and director John Cameron Mitchell – who is currently bunkered down in Sydney quarantine – is prepping for a new role likely to be every bit as, er, colourful.

Mitchell will jet from Sydney direct to Brisbane in two weeks to pull on the mullet wig for the titular role in the hugely-anticipated NBCUniversal adaptation of the Tiger King due to be shot entirely in Australia with SNL funny woman Kate McKinnon and veteran actor Dennis Quaid also set to star.

American actor and writer John Cameron Mitchell, pictured at the Sydney Opera House, is set to play the role of Joe Exotic in a new series.

It is one of two scripted productions based on the ostentatious zoo-owner turned felon green-lit by Hollywood (the other is set to star Nicholas Cage) featuring one of the most universally contested roles – arguably Mitchell’s biggest since his star turn as Hedwig.

“At least in terms of visibility, yeah,” he tells Confidential from his hotel suite overlooking Sydney Harbour.

“It’s a role that I just thought, you know, wow. What a character to play.

“Here’s this guy who is from where I am from. I used to live an hour away from his zoo when I was a kid, you know, in Oklahoma.

“So I know the vibe and I know that certain kind of gay guy. The type that was like; “Hey I’m better than you because I’ve got my arm down this tiger’s throat and the other around by boyfriend’. That type of guy.

“They’re tough and they’re damaged and they’re entertaining and they’re admirable and they’re repulsive.”

Initially, however, Mitchell admits he struggled to get through the original docu-series centred around the bitter world of rival zookeepers in the obscure backwater of Wynnewood which remains Netflix’s most-streamed series globally to date.

“I had to stop watching it … I felt soiled,” he laughs.

“Everyone was just behaving so badly, you know what I mean? But when I finally looked at it again I was like ‘Oh my god this character is brilliant. It’s layered. It’s fun’. I got it.”

Mitchell will play Joe Exotic in a TV drama which begins production next month.

Exotic, he says, is a character not dissimilar to his career-launching role of East German escapee Hedwig, a genderqueer singer forced into genital reassignment surgery.

“(Exotic) has that same kind of aggressive victim mentality. You know, the world has screwed with him, his boyfriend died of aids, he tried to kill himself after he was outed.

“But then you see videos of himself as a young man and he is much more gentle and feminine. It’s like to protect himself from the world he built up this tough redneck exterior.

“Hedwig had the helmet of a wig and the breastplate of false t*** to protect her from the world and (Exotic) does the same with his type of exterior which is his drag. But he imitated his oppressors to the point of outdoing them. You know. He became an attempted murderer.”

More recently Hedwig and the Angry Inch – and Mitchell – were in the news locally following the high-profile cancellation of a Sydney production of the acclaimed rock opera which was set to star Hugh Sheridan in the lead role.

The producers of Hedwig and the Angry Inch faced criticism for casting Hugh Sheridan.

Sydney Festival organisers opted to scrap the show following a handful of objections to Sheridan – who is not transgender – playing the role.

At the time Mitchell hit back at the move saying the character of Hedwig was not ‘trans’ and that any actor should be free to play it – a position on which he remains committed.

“I don‘t believe that only gay people can play gay people or only straight play straight,” says Mitchell, who identifies as non binary.

“But I would really like to see the production come back to Sydney. We don’t want it to die on the vine because of some well-meaning protest. Well-meaning but I think a little misguided.”

Fans of the actor’s performance background, meanwhile, will have one opportunity to see Mitchell take to the stage while in Australia – with a single one-off show alongside cabaret legend Amber Martin scheduled for Brisbane’s Tivoli Theatre on July 6.