'I Was Lorena Bobbitt': Meet Dani Montalvo and Luke Humphrey, the cast of Lifetime movie's true-crime story
"He hurt me over and over again. Now I get to tell what he did to me," Lorena Bobbitt says in the trailer for Lifetime's new 'Ripped From the Headlines Feature' movie 'I Was Lorena Bobbitt'.
It was in 1993 that Lorena became a worldwide sensation. After being raped and abused by her husband John Wayne Bobbitt for several years, she used a kitchen knife and cut her husband's penis off.
The Lifetime movie follows Lorena's journey from "a white-eyed immigrant bride to a battered wife into an unlikely media sensation". The movie, which premieres on May 25, 2020, shows her, now 49-years-old, ultimately emerging as a strong, thoughtful woman who has devoted her entire life working for the upliftment of other abused women. It also chronicles the events leading up to the main incident and the following case.
A part of the network's public affairs campaign for Stop Violence Against Women. Following the premiere of the movie, the network will also run a PSA for the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence featuring Bobbitt.
The Lifetime movie is as Lorena would want her story to be told, she also served as an executive producer and on-screen narrator for the movie. Before the movie premieres on Lifetime on May 25, meet the cast.
Dani Montalvo as Lorena Bobbitt
On the night of June 23, 1993, after suffering years of abuse, the real-life Lorena Bobbitt, who was then 24-years-old had cut off the penis of her sleeping husband John Bobbitt, then 26-years-old. The shocking case is no mystery to anyone as tabloids, newspapers, TV channels all began highly sensationalizing the case, following it minute by minute in the courtrooms and painting the characters with colorful backstories. In fact, so taken was the media by the story, that they covered it extensively. Even more so, the media was interested in the fact that a woman had cut off her husband's penis than the fact that she had been abused for several years.
Dani Montalvo who essays the role of Lorena in the movie was seen alongside Sally Field in Jason Segal’s anthology drama series 'Dispatches from Elsewhere' on AMC. She is also known for her roles on 'Mare of Easttown', 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' and 'Manifest'.
In an interview ahead of the premiere of the movie, Dani had spoken about what she hopes the movie will achieve. "I hope that it... inspires people to reach out. And if they see the signs, they see the patterns of any sort of domestic or sexual violence that they can act. And I think by watching the movie, that they will see what it looks like to live with that sort of reality."
Luke Humphrey as John Wayne Bobbitt
(IMDb)
As John Bobbitt, Humphrey plays the role of Lorena's real-life husband. Lorena was clear that she had cut off his penis because she was being abused by him for years. But he continued to deny it saying that she "was a good wife a lot of the time. But she was obsessed with having her American Dream, her American Dream, her American Dream - she said it all the time."
The actor is best known for his role as the producer of 'The Manhattan Project' and 'Pat's Big Question' and his role as V'Latak in 'Star Trek: Discovery'.
In an interview he had given for the movie, the actor opened up about how he played the part of the villainous husband. "I wanted to explore the idea that this is a man who someone could fall in love with and see hope and a future with," he had said. "But that was all destroyed and taken away when the physical, psychological, and sexual abuse escalated. It was entrapment that bought her into it, and that's what I was hoping to share with the audience so they could understand why she ended up where she did."
Lorena was pleased with how both actors portrayed their real-life counterparts. When it comes to Montalvo in particular, Lorena has nothing but praise for the 26-year-old actress.
'I Was Lorena Bobbitt' premieres Monday, May 25 at 8 pm ET/PT on Lifetime.