{"id":861523,"date":"2026-09-26T16:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861523\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T16:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:20:14","slug":"jonathan-lipnicki-on-bold-role-in-primetime-and-why-he-left-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/861523\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Lipnicki on Bold Role in ‘Primetime’ and Why He Left L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains spoilers from A24<\/a>\u2018s Primetime.]<\/p>\n

\n\tA little more than a year ago, Jonathan Lipnicki<\/a> started praying nightly for clarity in his career.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m confident the best is yet to come for me,\u201d Lipnicki told People in a revealing interview, saying his goal was to \u201cturn this ship around\u201d and sail toward bigger and better acting opportunities after experiencing a season of rough waters professionally. \u201cThis is the thing I want to do for the rest of my life, and I think you just have to believe it\u2019s going to happen and do everything in your power to take action in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt worked. Not long after, Lipnicki arrived at a new gig, and while it didn\u2019t deliver the most amount of screen time in his lengthy IMDb credits, it offered the boldest turn of the 35-year-old\u2019s career. Lipnicki \u2014 a beloved child star who, at age 6, hit the jackpot by making his debut opposite Tom Cruise<\/a> and Ren\u00e9e Zellweger in Cameron Crowe\u2019s Jerry Maguire<\/a> before moving on to other hits like Stuart Little \u2014 snagged a part in Lance Oppenheim<\/a>\u2018s Primetime for A24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRobert Pattinson<\/a> toplines the film, playing Chris Hansen, host of the controversial NBC docuseries<\/a> To Catch a Predator, alongside a cast that includes Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers and Bokeem Woodbine. Loosely adapted by first-time screenwriter Ajon Singh from an Esquire article<\/a> by Luke Dittrich, the thriller dramatizes the darkest year of Hansen\u2019s tenure on To Catch a Predator. (And in case you missed the spoiler warning above, this is your second and last notice to duck out before we reveal more about Lipnicki\u2019s part.)<\/p>\n

\n\tLike the show, the film finds Hansen confronting alleged sexual predators after they arrive at what they believe is the home of an underage boy or girl. Lipnicki plays a character known only by the screen name of Crazyfrog73, someone who gets caught in a compromising position in the kitchen while hoping to hook up with a boy played by Gisondo. Primetime, in theaters now, debuted at the Venice Film Festival where Oppenheim said in a press conference<\/a> that it was an intentional choice to cast actors like Lipnicki and Gisondo because of their history as child stars as a way \u201cto take the baggage that they brought to movies before and figure out new ways for them to shed the skin of who they were in different films.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat applies to Lipnicki, who shed more than that \u2014 specifically, his pants \u2014 for a full frontal scene complete with a can of whipped cream. \u201cAs actors, we pray for dark material and for things we can really sink our teeth into. At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, \u2018Am I as courageous an artist as I say I am?\u2019 I had to answer that question, and I was courageous enough to take the plunge,\u201d Lipnicki told The Hollywood Reporter over Zoom in September. \u201cI\u2019ve tried to live by the idea that, when it comes to art, if something scares you, most likely you should do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOppenheim, for one, is grateful Lipnicki had the courage. \u201cWhen it came to this role, which is a tough one, I explained to him that doing this scene right would be a turning point for the movie, tonally. He had to embody a very disturbed individual and create an incredibly complicated experience for both Dan [Skyler Gisondo\u2019s character] and the audience. I\u2019m so grateful to him that he agreed to do it, and I really don\u2019t know if the scene \u2014 or the film \u2014 would work without him,\u201d praised the director over email.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also did the work to pull it off by studying episodes and hard-to-watch segments. \u201cHe had come up with a whole backstory: where the guy lived, what he did for work, who existed in his life. When he came to set, he had embodied all of this and more through a certain kind of physicality that immediately was so different than any character he had embodied before. I wasn\u2019t seeing Jonathan. I was seeing his character. And all of that came together from the small details he would mine in the performance by finding ways to dimensionalize this guy beyond the page,\u201d Oppenheim said, adding that it was \u201cincredible\u201d to also watch Pattinson and Lipnicki improv for nearly 10 minutes. \u201cI loved being on set with Jonathan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOppenheim, who is also having a banner fall with the critically acclaimed forthcoming doc You Can See Everything, said he grew up watching Lipnicki on the big screen as they\u2019re about the same age. \u201cOne of my all time favorite films, Jerry Maguire, was a reference for us while making Primetime. During pre-production, after screening Jerry Maguire for the crew, I kept thinking about Jonathan and where he was now. I started watching some of his more recent work and was really struck by how fearless he was. I could see that he had more to give,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s exactly how Lipnicki felt. Below, he opens up to THR about how it felt to bare it all for Primetime, how he\u2019s matched the bold choice in his personal life by packing up all of his belongings to leave Los Angeles \u2014 a journey he dubbed his Eat, Pray, Love moment that landed him in Oklahoma \u2014\u00a0and why it has been so freeing to let go of outside opinions, focus on the process and embrace producing and generating his own work: \u201cWhatever the challenge is, I\u2019m up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did Primetime<\/a> come your way?<\/p>\n

\n\tOut of nowhere. My agent reached out and said casting wanted to know if I was interested. I read the script, saw who was involved and thought, \u201cWow, this is something.\u201d The script was incredible; it had my heart pounding by the end. They asked me to read for it because they didn\u2019t have recent footage of me. The director loved my tape and they offered me the role, but I was still a little on the fence because it was pretty wild. Then Lance called me after a day on set to say, \u201cI know how this seems. I don\u2019t want it to seem stunt-casty. I want you involved in the creative process, and I want you to know where this came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe told me that he\u2019d seen an interview with me a few years ago and put my name in his iPhone notes, along with other people he wanted to work with. When this came up, that old note was triggered. He sent me test footage and creative material, and we traded notes about the character: How he should be, how he should look and how he should act. His approach was incredibly sensitive and respectful. Ultimately, I said I\u2019d do it if I really got to be part of that process, and I did. For something terrifying to tackle, he made it a wonderful process.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJonathan Lipnicki, Lance Oppenheim and co-star Alex Winter at the West Coast premiere of A24\u2019s Primetime for Beyond Fest opening night presented by American Cinematheque at Directors Village in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Christiansen\/BFA.com<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPattinson and Oppenheim at the Primetime world premiere in Venice, Italy on Sept. 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Benjamin Cremel\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the role came to you, did you know it was a pedophile who would be naked in the scene?<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, they sent the scenes. I laughed, but it also gave me a lot of anxiety. It\u2019s a crazy thing to wrap your brain around. As actors, we pray for dark material and for things we can really sink our teeth into. At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, \u201cAm I as courageous an artist as I say I am?\u201d I had to answer that question, and I was courageous enough to take the plunge.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat gave you the most pause: playing a pedophile or full-frontal nudity?<\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t know if I separated them. I\u2019ve done full frontal before in a play, Lost Girls, so that part didn\u2019t bother me as much. It was probably the combination. If you\u2019re full frontal in another type of scene, it\u2019s different. The pedophile element by itself is terrifying to tackle, and then you add the nudity. Not only are you a pedophile \u2014 you\u2019re a naked, full-frontal pedophile. It was intimidating, to say the least. Even after I shot it, I thought, \u201cI really hope I made the right decision.\u201d But I\u2019ve tried to live by the idea that, when it comes to art, if something scares you, most likely you should do it.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve described a collaborative process with Lance. What was it like working with him so far in advance of getting on set?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt gave me security in what I was doing. You don\u2019t want to feel like you\u2019re baring your skin or your soul for people who aren\u2019t appreciative of it. The entire team couldn\u2019t have been kinder or more sensitive to what I was doing. Being able to trade notes with Lance while he was filming and extremely busy spoke volumes about who he is as a filmmaker and a person. It made me a huge fan. He was extremely considerate throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was it like filming the scene itself?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was a whirlwind. Lance had written some additional material for Rob [Pattinson] and me, and I didn\u2019t know about it until 5 a.m. that day. I learned this whole other scene that was intercut into the sequence. Lance was decisive about what he wanted, and we worked it through. Skyler [Gisondo] was great, Rob was great, and it felt like a really fun, collaborative process. Lance works with a lot of people he\u2019s known for years, so it felt like stepping into a family of really cool people. Even though we were shooting an extremely dark and gross situation, they created an atmosphere that felt comfortable in the uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scene is obviously uncomfortable, but it also has a lightness to it in moments with the whipped cream, and the audience chuckled a bit during the screening I attended in Venice. Was that part of the creative conversation?<\/p>\n

\n\tThere were definitely choices I made in my tape. When you\u2019re playing someone like this, it\u2019s heavy-handed if you make him a mustache-twirling evil villain. You have to ask what would be truthful. Even in the darkest circumstances, there can be strange things that make us laugh uncomfortably. I was mindful of how that played into the tone of the scene. Those initial choices from the tape were married to things we discovered along the way and in the moment, and it all became interwoven.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGisondo in Primetime<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of A24<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA scene in Primetime<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of A24<\/p>\n

\n\tPeople have written so much about Robert Pattinson\u2019s transformation into Chris Hansen<\/a>. You got to see it up close. What did you make of him?<\/p>\n

\n\tEver since I saw The Rover, he\u2019s been on my list of people I really wanted to work with. Getting to do this with him was incredibly cool. I love making movies, but I also love watching them and seeing people at the top of their game. I got to be present with someone who is really at the top of his game, and it was a privilege to work with him. Skyler is incredible, too, and he\u2019s having this amazing career. Those are the kinds of people you want to be working with. It was incredible to watch what Robert was doing with the characterization.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou were very young when To Catch a Predator<\/a> came out. What was your awareness of that show and phenomenon?<\/p>\n

\n\tI saw it back in the day, and I watched it again leading up to this. I knew it as something that was part of history. My older sister probably watched it more than I did. When the project came my way, I thought it was fascinating that they were making a movie about that particular point in time. Even the costumes are a wonderful time capsule, and the bleached hair I have in the movie is a time capsule. If you had told 14-year-old me that I\u2019d be in a movie about this, I would have said, \u201cNo way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you think about the connection between casting former child stars in a movie about To Catch a Predator and the way people assume children in Hollywood are vulnerable to exploitation?<\/p>\n

\n\tI think there are a lot of ways to look at it. I can\u2019t control what people think or whether something grosses them out. It is a commentary on certain elements of that world, and I think the choices Lance made were really interesting. From my perspective, when you come from being a child actor, so much depends on your parents. I was fortunate: My parents were great, I went to public school and had a normal childhood, as normal as it could be with this extra thing attached to it.<\/p>\n

\n\tI remember press junkets for Stuart Little, when journalists would ask me if I was going to do drugs or whether something bad had happened to me. Growing up, there was a lot of pressure not to become a train wreck. People would say, \u201cDon\u2019t do this. You\u2019ll ruin your reputation. You\u2019ll ruin your life. You\u2019ll be just like these other people.\u201d They painted those people as train wrecks and terrible examples, but they\u2019re human beings, and it\u2019s sad to see that.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor me, taking this role felt like letting go of that pressure. I\u2019ve always been concerned about making mistakes and worried about what other people think of me. This role was part of saying, \u201cI have no control over what people are going to think, and I\u2019m not going to concern myself with that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLipnicki talks on a phone in a scene from Jerry Maguire, released in 1996. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by TriStar\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tWas that a new feeling for you?<\/p>\n

\n\tYes. I left Los Angeles, got rid of everything I owned, took my Jeep Wrangler and drove around the country. Now I live in Oklahoma. I moved away from everything to have an Eat, Pray, Love moment \u2014\u00a0although I was eating and praying a lot, and I didn\u2019t have love until I met my girlfriend. I had time to think, and I realized I didn\u2019t want to spend any more moments worrying about what other people thought of me. I love acting and making movies. I\u2019ve acted for big audiences, and I\u2019ve acted for one or two people in a theater. I\u2019ve done it for free. I love it that much. But after I got to Oklahoma, I made some choices about movies that weren\u2019t very good, and I started saying no and finding other ways to support myself.<\/p>\n

\n\tI produce, I teach and I\u2019m involved in a few entrepreneurial endeavors. Once I started saying no, some beautiful things happened. I was able to do Primetime, and I have a project with Matt Walsh and Geneva Carr called Williston<\/a>, which I executive produced and which premieres in November. The project is extremely important to me. Writer-director Adam Seidel adapted it from a play specifically to pitch it to me after we worked together on his film Anywhere<\/a>. Matt and Geneva give incredible performances, and it was inspiring to work with them. I also did a small role in Butcher\u2019s War with Aaron Eckhart, and I\u2019m executive producing and acting in Mazel Tough, which is a rom-com \u2014 a chance to do something lighter. Ever since I started making choices based on what I really love creatively, my life has been a lot better.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLipnicki and his girlfriend at the West Coast premiere for Beyond Fest presented by American Cinematheque at Directors Village in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax Christiansen\/BFA.com<\/p>\n

\n\tI love that. It sounds like you found clarity in your career.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s always a constant process of growth. I don\u2019t focus on the outcome or what will happen because I did one role or another. I focus on getting to do what I love every day, and that\u2019s a dream. Taking on something this scary freed up a lot of emotional bandwidth. I put it out there, and it is what it is.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat is life like in Oklahoma, and how much of it involves filmmaking? I know they have a very lucrative tax credit program. <\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve shot four or five things here, and I\u2019ve guided two of my own projects that I executive produced. The crews are amazing, and there\u2019s a giant future for filmmaking here. The film community is wonderful. I never would have thought that I\u2019d be more active after leaving Los Angeles, but I have been.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat do people in Oklahoma ask you about your child stardom or your life in Los Angeles?<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be honest, people don\u2019t talk about it that much. They\u2019ll say, \u201cThat\u2019s really cool. I grew up watching that movie,\u201d but they\u2019re pretty chill. I forget about Jerry Maguire all the time. I\u2019m going to my mailbox or sitting at my computer, and those movies feel like a distant memory. I also teach acting here, so my day-to-day life is focused on what I\u2019m doing now.<\/p>\n

\n\tTell me about teaching.<\/p>\n

\n\tI teach at an acting studio near the University of Oklahoma run by casting director Chris Freihofer<\/a>. A lot of the students got started as extras on Killers of the Flower Moon and were inspired to begin acting. One of my students is now a series regular on Little House on the Prairie, and several others have booked work. I never thought I would teach, but it\u2019s so cool to be part of these people\u2019s journeys. I get to talk about the thing I love with other people who love it, too. There\u2019s so much raw talent here, and as more films come to Oklahoma, I want these actors to feel ready to nab those roles. I\u2019ve been extremely impressed. Some students drive for hours, stay in hotels every week for class and come off-book on very long scenes. Their work ethic is admirable.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt seems like producing has enriched your life and career, too.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you love telling stories and making films, acting alone can feel limiting because everything depends on whether someone hires you. I love producing. I love matchmaking \u2014 finding a great script and pairing it with a director I believe in. Getting to work with people you love and believe in, and being the connective tissue between them, is really rewarding. Learning about the finance side has also been an exciting challenge. I don\u2019t have to produce everything I\u2019m in, and I don\u2019t have to be in everything I produce. I think of acting and producing as two separate things that sometimes intermingle. I have another project, Dog Years<\/a>, with Xolo Maridue\u00f1a and Leah Lewis that\u2019s in post. I\u2019m not in that one; I was just an executive producer.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s the dream now, and where does Primetime fit into it?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019d love to work with more filmmakers I admire and take on more challenging roles. This was a great step forward, although I don\u2019t know what the outcome will look like. I\u2019ve told myself not to focus on outcomes because I can\u2019t control them. At the end of the day, I want more opportunities to do what I love. If those opportunities don\u2019t come, I\u2019ll create them for myself.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow that you\u2019ve embraced this fearlessness, are you open to more bold work?<\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely. Whatever the challenge is, I\u2019m up for it. I want to work on great material with great filmmakers, and I feel like I\u2019m in a good headspace to capitalize on any opportunity that comes my way. I feel extremely driven to do really good work. I\u2019ve wanted to do this my whole life. There have been times when it\u2019s been wonderful and times when it\u2019s been incredibly hard and bleak, but I think this is a step forward. I\u2019m excited to see what comes from it.<\/p>\n

\n\tWas there ever a moment when you thought you might quit?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m stubborn. I don\u2019t quit. There have been moments when I\u2019ve been unhappy because the thing I love \u2014 and the thing I was used to having success at \u2014 wasn\u2019t working anymore. In those moments, it\u2019s easy to get upset, but the biggest thing is to outwork your self-doubt. When I was about 18, I went back to acting class and started over in beginner classes. I also took time away to play water polo and enrich my life. I\u2019ve been fortunate to have the best of both worlds, but you can\u2019t sugarcoat it: This is a very hard industry.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe biggest thing anyone can learn is that it\u2019s not personal. Very rarely is it personal; usually, you simply weren\u2019t the right person for the role. I had to look in the mirror and say, \u201cMaybe you need to get better at this.\u201d I worked extremely hard with great teachers, including Joshua Bitton and Holly Gagnier, and learned from the beginning again. That accelerated my return to acting. It wasn\u2019t just about developing my skill set \u2014 it was about confidence, too.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat do you hope people take away from this chapter?<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you love something through thick and thin, you have to chase it. Sometimes that means looking at yourself and asking, \u201cAm I brave enough to do what I say I am? Can I stack up undeniable proof that I am who I say I am?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tPrimetime is now playing in theaters. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter\u2018s coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains spoilers from A24\u2018s Primetime.] A little more than a year ago, Jonathan Lipnicki started praying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[17979,236,88,354607,363540,351907,48125,4520],"class_list":["post-861523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-a24","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-jerry-maguire","tag-jonathan-lipnicki","tag-lance-oppenheim","tag-robert-pattinson","tag-tom-cruise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}