Do you get the feeling that Jimmy Fallon is having a bit of fun with the fact that Nicolas Cage is being named for the part of Joe Exotic for a Tiger King series? Ellise Shafer of Variety had more to say about this. Somehow it feels safe to state that Cage might actually tone it down just a bit since his epic freakouts that do and have happened on camera are definitely worthy of being recognized, but aren’t always needed when it comes to certain movies. For this instance though it might actually happen that a freakout might be need now and again since the character of Joe Exotic might actually warrant as much. At the same time you’ve kind of got to wonder if Joe is seeing this in prison and laughing his butt off or shaking his head, or both. As a bonafide glory hound he does appear to love it when his name is in the press no matter the reason, and the fact that he’s bound to be a meme for a while is no doubt going to give him even more joy since it means that people are going to know who he is for quite some time. There are plenty of people that might chime in as to whether that’s a good or a bad thing but in the long run it really doesn’t matter since it’s likely that until the day he passes on Joe is going to be the type to seek attention in one form or another. If he happens to serve his entire 22-year sentence without getting out early (good luck with that) it’s possible that he’d spend every waking minute doing what he could to make sure that people don’t forget him.
As for Nicolas Cage, he’s put his own stamp on so many things in Hollywood that forgetting him really isn’t an option since he’s been involved in quite a few of the biggest movies in history and has been a part of many that might not be the greatest but are certainly memorable. One might think that he would be getting to retire, but considering that he’s still trying to make money to get back to where he was before being nailed by the IRS it’s easy to state that he’s going to be pumping out appearances left and right for a while yet. Emmie Martin of CNBC had more to say on this subject. While he used to show up in a movie now and again and make a big splash before moving on to another big project, he’s been moving steadily from one project to the next in order to get paid and pay back what he owed while also strengthening his own financial base once again and keeping his name relevant. His celebrity status has never really gone away, as people still remember him as being one of the better actors of a generation and someone that can still perform when he’s called upon to do so, but the act of bouncing from one movie to another in the manner of a B-level movie star has definitely made people wonder about him quite a bit when it comes to his status.
It’s kind of assumed that his role as Joe Exotic is going to be put him back on top or at least keep him in the headlines for a while to come since both his status and that of Joe Exotic should work together in order to really push him as a top-level celebrity once again and possibly get him back to where he used to be, or close to it. That’s a hope at least, but creating a series based off of a controversial character in a documentary that a lot of people are no longer really taking seriously does sound just a bit dodgy to say the least, though it could happen that he’ll do very well and will end up making a series that’s even better than the documentary. Likely as not it will upset a few people since the documentary didn’t appease anyone one hundred percent given that it made just about everyone look suspect and even worse, it made them look like crooks, con artists and swindlers. Jen Chaney of Vulture had more to say on this topic. In a way that was best trick the documentary pulled off since without any bias for or against any of them, a lot of those involved with the zoos and the issues with the big cats sound like nutcases that should have been thoroughly investigated a long time ago. They might not like being shown as they are, but the fact is that big cats don’t belong in cages, though the sad part is that a lot of them wouldn’t know how to survive in the wilds if they were let loose. It’s not about to happen in any case since those that are keeping them would lose an insane amount of money, which in the end is what it’s all about.
But props to Jimmy Fallon for the performance, it was eerily spot on in some cases.
