EXCLUSIVE: Veteran documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim (Ren Faire) is pivoting to fiction with his next project, Primetime, which will be financed and produced by A24, with Robert Pattinson among the producers.
While not much is known about the film’s genre or plot, it’s said to follow a journalist who takes on an underworld of crime and changes television forever. We’ve heard from multiple sources that the project takes inspiration from To Catch a Predator, the NBC program put on as part of Dateline, as well as its host Chris Hansen, though the studio wouldn’t confirm. Sources also had Pattinson attached to star, though others clarified that there’s no deal in that respect for the moment. Stay tuned.
Oppenheim will direct from a script by Ajon Singh. Pattinson produces through his production banner Icki Eneo Arlo alongside Brighton McCloskey, Range’s Brian Kavanaugh Jones and Fred Berger, and Square Peg’s Lars Knudsen, Ari Aster and Tyler Campellone. Oppenheim and Singh will exec produce, as will William Iannaccone and A.J. Bourscheid for Range and Emily Hildner for Square Peg.
Oppenheim is coming off the buzzy three-episode run of his HBO Original docuseries Ren Faire, examining a war for control of America’s largest renaissance festival, which he directed and produced. His sophomore feature doc, Spermworld — tracking the stories of sperm donors, recipients and the marketplaces that connect them — premiered on FX and Hulu in March. Oppenheim’s first documentary feature, the acclaimed Some Kind of Heaven, was produced by Darren Aronofsky and the New York Times, premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and releasing through Magnolia Pictures.
Most recently seen starring in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Pattinson’s next film up for release is Bong Joon-ho’s darkly comedic sci-fi pic Mickey 17. Other upcoming projects include Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love with Jennifer Lawrence, A24’s The Drama with Zendaya, and The Batman Part II.
Oppenheim is repped by UTA, Iconoclast, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Pattinson by WME, Curtis Brown Group in the UK, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.