Dennis Quaid will play Rick Kirkham in the upcoming Peacock series “Joe Exotic.” Kirkham, an American journalist based in Norway, was the “Tiger King’s” reality show producer. Quaid joins previously announced series leads Kate McKinnon, who will play Carole Baskin, and John Cameron Mitchell, who will play Joe Exotic. It was also recently announced that Brian Van Holt will play John Reinke, Sam Keeley will play John Finlay and Natt Wolff will play Travis Maldonado.
Adapted from the Wondery Podcast of the same name, “Joe Exotic” centers on Carole Baskin (McKinnon), a big cat enthusiast, who learns that fellow exotic animal lover Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel (Mitchell) is breeding and using his big cats for profit. She sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry. But Carole has a checkered past of her own and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose what he sees as her hypocrisy. The results prove dangerous.
Etan Frankel serves as writer and executive producer under his overall deal with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group. McKinnon executive produces in addition to starring along with Wondery’s Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy and Aaron Hart. UCP will produce. Justin Tipping will direct the first four episodes, including the pilot.
Quaid, an Emmy Award and two-time Golden Globe nominee, is best known for starring in films such as “The Rookie,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Traffic,” “Vantage Point,” “Frequency,” “The Parent Trap,” “Soul Surfer,” “The Right Stuff” and “Breaking Away.” His TV credits include starring in and executive producing Netflix’s “Merry Happy Whatever” and starring in the third season of Amazon’s “Goliath.”
Quaid is currently developing “The Charley Pride Story,” which he will produce along with Ben Howard’s production company, Third Coast Content. The actor is also working on a gospel album.
Quaid is repped by George Freeman of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Darren Boghosian of UTA, Scott Adkins of Adkins Publicity and Stewart Brookman of Hansen Jacobsen. “Joe Exotic” (working title) is slated to stream exclusively on Peacock.