Fresh off his Oscar victory, Jordan Peele will tackle one of the most notorious true crimes of the 1990s.
The writer and director of “Get Out” has signed on to produce “Lorena,” a documentary series about Lorena Bobbitt, who cut off the penis of her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, in 1993. After the penis was surgically reattached, Lorena was charged with malicious wounding.
The four-part series, which Peele will produce for Amazon, will look beyond the tabloid frenzy that enveloped the case and reframe the story around Lorena’s allegations of domestic and sexual abuse against her husband, whom she divorced in 1995.
“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 in a press release cited by Entertainment Weekly and Deadline Thursday. “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.”
Amazon officials said Lorena will directly participate in the series, which will offer a “new view into how America got her story wrong and maybe continues to get it wrong,” according to the press release.
“This is Lorena’s story,” Peele added, “and we’re honored to help her tell it.”
A jury acquitted Lorena by reason of temporary insanity in 1994. In 2007, she founded Lorena’s Red Wagon, a charity to help domestic violence victims and their children, as HuffPost previously reported.
“I realized I may as well make a good thing out of a bad thing,” she said at the time.
As for John Wayne, he was acquitted of marital sexual assault, and starred in a series of adult films in the mid-1990s before being profiled on REELZ’s “Scandal Made Me Famous” in 2016.
Peele, meanwhile, is busier than ever after his Best Original Screenplay win for “Get Out” in March. He’s the co-creator of TBS’ “The Last O.G.,” which debuted Tuesday and stars Tracy Morgan. Meanwhile, he’s also said to have a “Twilight Zone” reboot for CBS All Access in the works, along with HBO’s “Lovecraft Country.”