It seems like it happened forever ago, but it was just early in 2020 when Tiger King came along on Netflix and took the country by storm. The true crime docuseries was so popular, in fact, that it led to several other shows about the case of Joe Exotic and his assorted friends and enemies being given the go-ahead. One of those, aptly titled Joe Exotic, has been filming for several weeks, with us finally getting a first look at star Kate McKinnon as Exotic’s competitor / enemy, Carole Baskin. Now, we know what the real Baskin thinks of seeing McKinnon play her for the Peacock series, and her review is pretty good.
Kate McKinnon has become very well-known for her many impressions and wild characterizations as a member of the Saturday Night Live cast over the years, so it’s not a huge surprise that she was tapped to take on the cool cat / kitten known as Carole Baskin in Joe Exotic. All along, Baskin was shown to be quite a character in her own right, and now that images of McKinnon have leaked from the set of the new show, she has talked to TMZ about it.
Baskin told the outlet that she was stunned to see the photos of McKinnon as her, mostly because whomever is in charge of wardrobe for the Joe Exotic cast has nailed her clothing. In the pictures, McKinnon is sporting a wig to copy Baskin’s long, blonde hair, along with a teal cardigan, jeans, a multi-colored animal print shirt, and a chunky necklace. Apparently, in real life Baskin does have nearly the same outfit, and she even noted that the addition of the necklace (which also matches a real item of hers) was a special surprise, because she never had it on for any of her Tiger King interviews.
The cat-loving lady also said that McKinnon seems to have totally accessed her own inner cat lady to pull off the look, and was also shocked to see the production using a 2012 Toyota pickup as her vehicle, because that is what she drives.
Joe Exotic will be based on the Wondery podcast, Joe Exotic: Tiger King, which was hosted by Robert Moor and brought Exotic’s story its first round of major mainstream attention. The Peacock series will follow the rivalry between Baskin and Exotic, which began when she learned that he was breeding and then using his big cats for profit, and made moves to try and shut down his roadside zoo.
Baskin was seen as a somewhat sympathetic person in the docuseries, until talk of her past and questions about what happened to her second husband came up. Exotic accused Baskin of killing him and then feeding him to her tigers to get rid of the evidence, which led to a whole new round of allegations and investigations for Baskin after Tiger King aired.
According to Baskin, Joe Exotic will show her relationship with her current husband, Howard (who’ll be played by Kyle MacLachlan), but she has no idea how her feud with Exotic (actor, director, and playwright John Cameron Mitchell) will play out this time around. At least Carole Baskin can rest easy knowing that Kate McKinnon has her cat-focused fashions down pat.
We don’t know when Joe Exotic will air on Peacock just yet, but you can check out our 2021 fall TV schedule while you wait for updates.
