Few things can make us feel as old as seeing the stars from our childhood movies get older. For many in Gen Z, it’s watching the kids from Stranger Things grow up. For those of us who grew up in the ‘90s, it’s the likes of Macaulay Culkin, Haley Joel Osment, and the Olsen twins whose grown-up photos still give us whiplash.
Recently, the internet spotted another ‘90s child star whose appearance made people do a double-take. Do you remember that cute kid with big glasses from Jerry Maguire and the old “Got Milk?” ads, Jonathan Lipnicki? He’s back in a new role in A24’s newest film, Primetime, and at 35, he has a whole new look that is taking the internet down a very nostalgic memory lane.
Child actor Jonathan Lipnicki stole our hearts in the ‘90s in movies like “Jerry Maguire” and “Stuart Little”
Jonathan stole our hearts as the little kid wearing huge glasses in Jerry Maguire when he played opposite Tom Cruise and Renee Zelwegger. “The human head weighs 8 pounds” is probably one of his most iconic lines that many of us remember to this day.
As a kid, Jonathan was almost everywhere: we could see him on red carpets, in ads, and he even voiced a baby tiger in Doctor Dolittle! Still, in the early 2000s, we didn’t see him in many projects as he stepped out of the limelight to attend a regular high school.
Today, Jonathan is 35 years old and all grown up, and he stars in the new Robert Pattinson-led movie Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim. We certainly didn’t see Jonathan much during the last 20 years, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been working steadily.
Most of his projects throughout the 2000s and 2010s haven’t garnered much attention from critics or the public and haven’t been box-office successes, but he's gotten small roles here and there almost every year.
In an interview with E!News last year, Lipnicki said that he didn’t plan to stop acting: “I wasn't, like, ‘I'm stepping away.’ I still had my agent, I'd audition here and there.” Although he had a very normal and grounding high school experience, being part of the water polo team, going to prom, and playing youth league sports, the ‘90s child star still tried to act whenever he could.
“I auditioned for a lot and I just didn't get things,” he told E!News. “I think that's OK to say, right? Acting is this thing that I've always loved, and sometimes it just doesn't love you back. And there was a span where I didn't work for a while and I was pursuing it.”
During that time, Jonathan had to learn some hard truths about himself. “ I wasn't very good at acting and I had to go to acting class,” he admitted. “You got to be in tune with who you are to act, and there was just a portion where maybe I just wasn't very good, and I'm OK saying that. Maybe it's a me thing, and I'm more than willing to work on myself all the time and take accountability and control for what I can control.”
Now at 35, he’s all grown up and starring in the new A24 drama “Primetime,” but people can’t believe how different he looks
Jonathan’s newest role is in the A24 drama Primetime. It features actors Robert Pattinson, Skyler Gisondo, and Anna Faris, along with singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers in her debut on the big screen. The movie follows a fictionalized version of Chris Hansen, the former host of the To Catch A Predator segment on the reality TV show Dateline NBC.
Pattinson stars as the fictionalized Hansen and is already getting praise from critics and audiences alike for his performance. The movie is loosely based on the behind-the-scenes of the NBC production, the 2007 Esquire expose “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will [Pass Away].”
Jonathan has a slightly controversial role in the film — he plays one of the “predators.” In a recent interview with i-D Magazine, Lipnicki said that the casting team reached out to him with a request for a videotaped audition. “I was really excited when I saw the whole creative team involved,” he admitted. “Lance told me he thought of me because he had seen an interview with me some years back, and saved me on a list of people he wanted to work with in his iPhone notes.”
Oppenheim cast other former child actors like Tony Revolori from The Grand Budapest Hotel and Alex Winter from The Lost Boys, which probably ties into the film's deeper message about the loss of innocence and how the industry corrupts people. In a press conference during the Venice Film Festival, the director explained his choice to cast former child stars as a way “to 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.”
Jonathan had to literally bare all for this role, as he had to go full-frontal for one of his scenes. While the prospect of such a scene was daunting, Lipnicki took the challenge head-on and feels proud of his work.
“As actors, we pray for dark material and for things we can really sink our teeth into,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “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. I’ve tried to live by the idea that, when it comes to art, if something scares you, most likely you should do it.”
Jonathan had few roles during the 2000s and the 2010s, but says he never took his job or his early success for granted
Earlier this year, Jonathan shared a throwback reel of his childhood roles in an Instagram post
Primetime director Lance Oppenheim didn’t hold back praise for Lipnicki. He praised Jonathan’s performance and said the risqué scene is a tonal shift for the movie. Yet both actors, Lipnicki and Gisondo, made the scene right despite how challenging or disturbing it might’ve felt. “I’m so grateful to him that he agreed to do it, and I really don’t know if the scene — or the film — would work without him,” the director told The Hollywood Reporter.
The cast and crew of Primetime also got a nostalgic throwback: they watched Jerry Maguire featuring the young Lipnicki. “One of my all time favorite films, Jerry Maguire, was a reference for us while making Primetime,” Oppenheim admitted. “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.”
“I haven’t heard from that child actor in like forever,” people in the comments couldn’t believe this was the same person
