Johnny Knoxville to Lead Mind-Bending Thriller ‘Night Sessions’

According to Variety, the Jackass icon is set to headline the psychological thriller Night Sessions, playing a disgraced American psychiatrist living in self-imposed exile in Berlin.

Knoxville will portray Dr. Rick Brennan — a charismatic, rock-star therapist who hosts a nightly call-in radio show for the lonely and broken. On air, he offers guidance and comfort. Off air, he’s haunted by his past. The fragile balance shatters when a mysterious caller phones in and accuses Brennan of committing a horrific crime, launching a deadly cat-and-mouse game that threatens to expose everything.

The film will be produced by Vienna-based Pont Pictures, with Gregor Schmidinger (Nevrland) directing from a script by Christopher Beachum.

Producer Philipp Mair Vargas describes Night Sessions as one of the strongest scripts he’s read in years, calling the role of Brennan “an actor’s showcase” and a perfect fit for Knoxville’s range — signaling a performance that leans more into psychological tension than physical chaos.

Though set in Berlin, the production will shoot entirely in Belgrade, Serbia. “The movie is 90% inside the radio station,” Mair Vargas noted, adding that the team secured a striking Belgrade location overlooking the city’s stark brutalist architecture — an aesthetic that should amplify the film’s claustrophobic intensity.

Knoxville’s 2026 slate is stacked. He’s currently hosting Fear Factor: House of Fear, has Jackass 5 set to hit theaters June 26, and will appear in Osgood Perkins’ The Young People later this year.

With Night Sessions, Knoxville looks ready to trade stunts for psychological warfare — and this time, the pain might be purely mental.