Kristen Bell Reacts to 'Tiger King' Star John Finlay's Request for Dax Shepard to Play Joe Exotic (Exclusive)

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Kristen Bell is so down with the idea of having her husband, Dax Shepard, portray Tiger King star Joe Exotic onscreen!

The potential casting idea all started when ET spoke with John Finlay, one of Exotic’s former husbands who was heavily featured in the Netflix crime doc, via Zoom this week. During the candid chat, Finlay revealed that he would love to see Shepard step into the role of the gay polygamist exotic cat breeder who's currently serving time in prison.

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"Dax would be so thrilled, because we loved that show!" Bell revealed, while chatting with ET about her Omaze virtual game night raffle to support COVID-19 relief efforts. "But there's one problem, and he realized it late the other night ... he has an actual massive fear of killer animals."

"Like, one time, we went to Africa and he was very hesitant in the van to even look out the window, when we were on a safari watching the animals," she recalled. "So he said that they'd have to figure out how to CGI big cats. He said, 'I'll play with a tiger but I'm not gonna be doing any stunts with a 600-pound animal.'"

Bell reiterated the fact that Shepard is all in for the role, as long as computer-generated imagery could be used.

"He's very much in," she shared. "He's very much campaigning for the role. I think he would be brilliant."

So, if Shepard were to portray Exotic, who would play his onscreen lovers? Finlay told ET he'd love to see Channing Tatum portray him, which Bell is also totally down for!

"That's genius," she exclaimed. "And also, Dax and Channing are very good friends, so they could pull this off easily. They have to do it!"

As we patiently wait to see whether or not this epic casting pans out, hear more from Finlay's exclusive interview with ET in the video below! 

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