Lance Oppenheim has always lived in reality, but not all his subjects do. The documentarian has built a career out of pointing his camera at people, from the retirees of “Some Kind of Heaven” to the unregulated donors of “Spermworld” and the self-appointed royalty of “Ren Faire.” And this year, he trades obscurity for two of the most recognizable figures of the past two decades in two films arriving within weeks of each other. The first is “Primetime,” his narrative feature debut, starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the Dateline correspondent whose “To Catch a Predator” turned sting operations into appointment television.
The second is “You Can See Everything,” a nonfiction collaboration with Nathan Fielder centered on Elizabeth Holmes, shot in secret over four years and unveiled as a surprise screening at the Telluride Film Festival. I was in that room, and it’s one of the wildest moviegoing experiences of my life. Oppenheim spoke with Variety about the $40 cameo that started it all, what he calls “docu-fantasia” and how a tiny crew kept one of the year’s biggest secrets.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. The seed of “Primetime” was reportedly a Cameo video from Chris Hansen. How does a novelty purchase turn into a movie?
My wife got it for me for $40. It sounds almost glib, but it’s hard to communicate how big a fascination this became for me. I discovered the show as a kid through the parodies, through “South Park” and “Human Giant.” When I was 11 or 12, I was watching it on YouTube and I was confused.
A circus, with Chris Hansen as this P.T. In the Cameo, he told me to have a seat and congratulated me on the release of “Spermworld.” This was 2024, before I ever received a script. You could pay this guy $40, and he would pretend you were a potential predator, then go on to advertise his new investigations.
There was something so macabre about it. It’s almost like the man saw the meme and decided to adopt the persona. About two weeks later, I met Rob Pattinson and showed him the Cameo on a whim.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
