Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw shingle is spearheading a Lorena Bobbitt docuseries for Amazon.
The four-part project, with Bobbitt’s full participation, will tackle the infamous 1993 incident and ensuing media frenzy that made the Virginia woman famous. (Bobbitt, in an act of retribution for alleged domestic violence, severed then-husband John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis with a kitchen knife and threw it into a field.)
“When we hear the name ‘Bobbitt,’ we think of one of the most sensational incidents to ever be catapulted into a full-blown media spectacle,” Peele said Thursday in a statement. “With this project, Lorena has a platform to tell her truth as well as engage in a critical conversation about gender dynamics, abuse and her demand for justice. This is Lorena’s story, and we’re honored to help her tell it.”
The project, simply titled Lorena, is described as a fresh perspective on the event and its role in creating the 24-hour news cycle — preceding the O.J. Simpson trial by just a year. Joshua Rofe is directing.
“Jordan has proven himself as a captivating voice of social critique, and we are excited to work with him on this project,” said Amazon originals head of unscripted Heather Schuster. “Lorena reframes Lorena Bobbitt’s story around issues of sexism and domestic abuse and offers Prime members an exclusive new view into how America got her story wrong and maybe continues to get it wrong.”
Lorena will be executive produced by Peele and Win Rosenfeld for Monkeypaw, Rofe and Steven J. Berger for Number 19 and Jenna Santoianni and Tom Lesinski for Sonar Entertainment.
