Jonathan Lipnicki Talks Going Full Frontal in 'Primetime,' Explains Why the Scene Scared Him | Just Jared

September 27, 2026 September 27, 2026

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Jonathan Lipnicki stock photo — Credit: Getty

Jonathan Lipnicki has truly grown up from his child actor days and now he’s taking on one of his most risky roles yet.

The former child star, now 35, is appearing in the new A24 movie Primetime, which follows the making of the TV show To Catch a Predator and the final sting operation that led to it being canceled.

Jonathan plays a character with the username Crazyfrog73, who is one of the predators captured in the film. In his scene, he enters the house and drops his pants immediately in front of Skyler Gisondo‘s Dan during his first time as a decoy. And yes, you see everything.

Jonathan Lipnicki talks about that full frontal moment

Jonathan told THR that he “laughed” when he found out he would be stripping down in the scene.

“I laughed, but it also gave me a lot of anxiety. It’s 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, ‘Am I as courageous an artist as I say I am?’ I had to answer that question, and I was courageous enough to take the plunge,” he said.

He continued, “I’ve done full frontal before in a play, Lost Girls, so that part didn’t bother me as much. It was probably the combination. If you’re full frontal in another type of scene, it’s different. The pedophile element by itself is terrifying to tackle, and then you add the nudity. Not only are you a pedophile — you’re a naked, full-frontal pedophile. It was intimidating, to say the least. Even after I shot it, I thought, ‘I really hope I made the right decision.’ But I’ve tried to live by the idea that, when it comes to art, if something scares you, most likely you should do it.”