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Joe vs. Carole stars on what makes it 'very different' from other Tiger King series: It's not 'exploitative'

"It's awash with empathy without stinting on the absurdity and comedy," John Cameron Mitchell tells EW.

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Published on March 3, 2022 11:30AM EST

The claws come out in Joe vs. Carole, Peacock's limited series centered on zoo owner Joe "Exotic" Maldonado-Passage (John Cameron Mitchell) and his rivalry with animal rights activist Carole Baskin (Kate McKinnon). Out March 3, the eight-episode drama based on Wondery's Over My Dead Body podcast chronicles Baskin's impassioned crusade to end Exotic's roadside animal shows and cub breeding business. His threatened livelihood ignites a lawless feud that involves a murder-for-hire plot against Baskin. (The real Exotic remains behind bars for attempting to facilitate the death of his rival.)

From McKinnon and writer Etan Frankel (Shameless, Friday Night Lights), this offering, however, goes beneath the tiger's fur, painting more nuanced portraits of its controversial subjects through flashback sequences. Earlier defining moments of Exotic's life are fictionalized, as are his complicated relationships with (and subsequent marriages to) John Finlay (Sam Keeley) and the late Travis Maldonado (Nat Wolff). Below, Mitchell, Keeley, and Wolff speak to EW about the humanization of their real-life counterparts, what sets Peacock's iteration apart from other Tiger King titles, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The people in this world are pretty controversial. What drew you to your respective roles?

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL: Well we prefer bland roles, usually. No, it's a dream to play these kinds of roles. I mean, complexity, nuance. This is the meat of our craft. You can't play a villain, you can't play a good guy — you gotta play some person who does good and bad things, that feels good and bad things, that's had things happen to them. I learn about myself through the roles that I play. I freed myself in a way. Playing Hedwig [in 2001's Hedwig and the Angry Inch] made me comfortable with my feminine side. Playing Joe weirdly made me comfortable with my masculine side. It's a gift and a privilege to be able to play these people with a great script like this, that's not just circus schtick. It gets under the hood, as Nat calls it, so we can figure out where it all comes from.

SAM KEELEY: I got the email from my agent saying, 'You're going up for John Finlay,' and I just laughed my head off because he's one of the characters I really identified with when I watched the [docuseries] and listened to the podcast. To go over what John said, it was an amazing opportunity to try and play somebody who is so complex... It's been an honor to try to capture a piece of these people's lives.

NAT WOLFF: I was obsessed with the documentary series, like everybody else. I emailed my agent at 2 in the morning after I finished it saying, 'Hey, if they ever make a live-action of Tiger King, I have to play this guy Travis.' And he wrote back, 'Please do not email us at 2 in the morning.' But then a year goes by and then I got to do it. When I started doing research about Travis, it led to doing research about all these guys, and [their stories are] way more tragic than you realize. I knew that Travis passed away. They were all victims of trauma, and I think as much as [Tiger King] shows their colorful personalities and what they're like when the cameras are rolling, this you get to really see them in certain ways that feel more real, even when it's done by actors.

MITCHELL: I like that Nat said the live-action version of this, because that was a cartoon.

JOE VS. CAROLE — John Cameron Mitchell as Joe Exotic in 'Joe vs. Carole'. Mark Taylor/Peacock

Did you guys reach out to or meet your real-life counterparts, or their inner circles, while preparing for this series?

MITCHELL: We were discouraged from doing so from production because we didn't want to feel partial to anyone. It's Carole and Joe equally, you know what I mean? Though Carole has said she's excited about seeing it, and she did encourage us to use CG animals, which I think was a good choice. Joe is just mad that somebody else is playing him. ... But I really hope he sees this, because it really honors him as a human being. It doesn't let him off the hook, but I think it might bring a tear to his eye to realize we were trying to honor everyone in this.

WOLFF: I thought that. I just watched the first four [episodes], it's all we got, but I thought, 'I hope Joe does see this portrayal of him because I think it does give him a beating heart.' Even though he did some awful things, you can't help but... your heart can't help but go out to him.

KEELEY: I think we also wanted to make sure that if these people managed to move past some of the trauma they may or may not have experienced during the time that they were there [at the zoo], we didn't want to drudge that up. But also, John Finlay's three choices to play him were Tom Hardy, Channing Tatum, and Shia LaBeouf, so he's probably gonna be really let down by me. [Laughs]

WOLFF: I got to speak to somebody who knew Travis, and one of the main things I got was he was one of the most universally liked people at the zoo. Everybody just loved him so much and they're all still heartbroken over his death.

Who did you speak with?

WOLFF: I'm not allowed to say.

MITCHELL: Don't ask about the source!

Kyle MacLachlan mentioned during our interview that he auditioned for the role of Howard Baskin 17 times. Tell me about your audition processes.

MITCHELL: What? That's disrespectful. That's Sir Kyle MacLachlan. Mine was short and sweet. I had this inkling that perhaps they had someone else who dropped out 'cause it was last minute, but the advantage to that is—

WOLFF: It was me.

MITCHELL: [Laughs] I only had three days to prepare an audition tape. I hadn't auditioned in 25 years but this felt like a real role that I should, so I submitted it on a Monday and got the job on a Thursday. It was last minute. I didn't have to do a call back. I improvised the hell out of my scenes but it didn't hurt me, I guess.

KEELEY: I did a self tape and because I wanted it so badly, I put it out of my head and I thought, 'I'm not gonna get that. I'll just forget about it.' I was in the middle of the countryside in Iceland [when] my agent, who's trying to get through to me for quite some time, eventually got through. She called me and was like, 'What do you want more than anything?' And I went, 'I don't know.' She was like, 'What have you auditioned for lately?' and I was like, 'No idea.' I just had no concept that it would've been this show. She eventually broke the news. Poor Kyle, man. That's insane.

WOLFF: I don't believe that. I think he was joking.

MITCHELL: He better have been.

WOLFF: I had sent that email to my agent and the show was coming around. My friend [Lex Mayson] was auditioning to play [Exotic's employee] Saff and they were like, 'Nat, you should play Travis.' I was like, 'I told these guys!' That's why I emailed at 2 in the morning! I was like, 'Am I too late?' and they said, 'Yeah, they already have some choices for who they want for Travis, but they definitely think you're more of a John.' I'm like, 'I'm not more of a John. Definitely not.' I was like, 'No, I don't want to go in for any other part' and they're like, 'OK, fine. You get in a tape by tonight and maybe they can put you in for the readings that they have tomorrow.' I sent them a tape and like an hour later, they were like, 'Well, now you're the frontrunner.' … I connected to that part in a quick, deep way. And then I auditioned for Howard 17 times, too.

There have been some other related documentaries and projects released since Tiger King's explosive debut. What would you say sets this adaptation apart?

MITCHELL: I think the other ones are exploitative. I don't wanna limit them because they certainly struck a chord, but those are real people. I think of this as art. This is human. You go inside these characters, you come out the other side. It's awash with empathy without stinting on the absurdity and comedy. If you're in any way interested in these characters, give the first episode a try. It's very different from any other portrayal of these characters.

WOLFF: I totally second that.

KEELEY: Absolutely. We give a more objective view of the whole thing. You get to see these people in multiple facets of their lives and why they make the choices they make.

WOLFF: The other versions of it, you go away thinking, 'Wow, these people are so funny and weird.' But at the end of this you go away thinking, 'Wow, I wanna be better to the people around me and to animals.' It does what a lot of great art does. It kinda makes you see the world in a new light."

All eight episodes of Joe vs. Carole are available on Peacock now.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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