Big news for fans of Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington’s Adult Swim series On Cinema: an actual cinematic experience is coming to your local cinema this fall. According to Variety, Magnolia has acquired the North American rights to a feature film in the On Cinema universe called Mister America, which follows Tim Heidecker’s campaign for San Bernardino district attorney last year. Eric Notarnicola — who has worked on Decker, On Cinema, and the duo’s annual Oscar specials — directed the film.
Some On Cinema fans caught wind of the news earlier this year when Turkington was a guest on the Kreative Kontrol podcast. He revealed that he and Heidecker originally intended to make a short project about Heidecker’s “pathetic campaign†for Adult Swim’s website, but it “accidentally†turned into a feature film. “We shot in San Bernardino. Some of it we shot on the street, some of it’s scripted with actors. But, you know, we did this thing, and it looks like it’s getting some actual distribution and hopefully some sort of theatrical run,†he said. “So that’s coming up later in this year, and I think Tim’s acting in it is just mind-blowing, following up on the incredible performance he gave in the [Electric Sun] trial that we did. I think people will find this enjoyable. It’s somewhere between a Christopher Guest–type movie and a Rick Alverson–type movie — like some sort of weird, deep parody of a certain culture, but very, very bleak.â€
Mister America doesn’t have a release date yet, but according to Variety’s report, Magnolia plans to release it sometime this fall. “We unleashed Tim into the real world to run the worst campaign in modern history, and document the process,†said Notarnicola on the news. “I’m thrilled that Magnolia is bringing Tim Heidecker’s message to the masses.â€