Tim Heidecker
When you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you CAN'T lose!
— Tim Heidecker, On Cinema at the Cinema intro
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| Tim Heidecker |
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| First Apperance | Podcast Episode 1: "Ghostbusters" |
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| Aliases | Tim Newman[1], T. Amato[2], Newman Heidecker[3] |
| Relatives | Stephanie (ex-wife) Tim's first son Tim's nephew Tim's niece Ayaka Ohwaki (ex-wife) Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr. (son, deceased) Sakura Ohtani (daughter, disputed) Juliana Serradimigni (ex-wife) Toni Newman (ex-wife) G. Amato (former adoptive father) Kaili Amato (former adoptive sister-in-law) |
| Portrayed by | Tim Heidecker |
Timothy Richard Heidecker is an American entrepreneur, actor, musician, and movie reviewer, best known for creating and hosting the online movie review series On Cinema, on which he works closely with frequent collaborator Gregg Turkington.
He has starred in movies including Fantastic Four (2015), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), and Deck of Cards (2022), as well as the television show Decker, where he portrays Special Agent Jack Decker. He has also performed in the bands Dekkar, DKR, and D4.
Heidecker is a controversial figure, with a variety of failed business ventures and criminal allegations to his name. It is alleged by some that Heidecker, despite hosting On Cinema for over a decade, doesn't care about movies, and is only interested in using its audience to promote his own views and personal projects. He has also been described as a cheapskate.[4]
History
Heidecker first rose to prominence on October 5, 2011, when the first episode of the On Cinema podcast was uploaded. The program was hosted by Heidecker with a guest apperance by Turkington. The reception to the podcast was apparently positive, and the pair continued to record episodes throughout 2011 and 2012. However, Heidecker began to feel that the show in its current form was not as popular as he would hope, and considered either changing the format or starting a new show, potentially focused on political debate instead of movie discussion.[5]
In November 2012, Heidecker collaborated with Thing X, a division of TV broadcaster Adult Swim, to turn the podcast into a full movie review video series for the website.[6]
Early in 2014, Heidecker, suffering from numbness in his foot, met Luthor Sanchez, or “Dr. San.”[7] San would serve as Heidecker's personal physician and business partner on and off throughout the next few years.
In late 2013, Heidecker, inspired by films he had reviewed on On Cinema such as Jack Reacher, began work on a self-produced and financed movie titled Decker, starring himself as Special Agent Jack Decker, and occasional On Cinema guest Joe Estevez as President Jason Davidson. He began shooting scenes on weekends for six months, writing and directing the film on his own.[8] Adult Swim worked with Heidecker to distribute the movie as Decker: Classified, now having been divided into episodes and aired as a mini-series. Turkington also made an appearance in the series as Jonathan Kington, a CIA codebreaker that assists Decker. Though Turkington initially claimed he never consented to appear in Decker, he later began to enthusiastically promote the series, and assisted Heidecker with future seasons.
In 2015, Heidecker began working on the second season of Decker, titled Decker: Port of Call: Hawaii. As part of the season, Heidecker wrote and performed an original song titled Our Values are Under Attack. Heidecker, feeling creatively inspired by the songwriting process, formed the band Dekkar later that year. Dekkar initially consisted of Heidecker and Axiom, a guitar player and music producer Heidecker had met at Guitar Center. The band's first single was titled Empty Bottle.
In late 2015, Heidecker's infant son, Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr., passed away due to medical issues. Following his passing, Heidecker and his wife Ayaka grew estranged, with Tim eventually moving into the Victorville Film Archives with Turkington in 2016. In late 2016, a faulty electronic vape pen caused a fire to start inside the VFA, destroying the building and most of its contents, and leaving Heidecker seriously injured, with severe burns covering most of his body and leaving his right hand nearly unusable.
In 2017, Dekkar member Manuel Giusti donated skin to Heidecker, allowing Heidecker to be able to repair the burns to his own skin. Axiom also donated material from his hand to help Heidecker regain usage of his right hand. Heidecker, restored to health, began organizing a music festival headlined by Dekkar, now called DKR. Heidecker planned to use the festival, the Electric Sun Desert Music Festival, as a venue for his business partner Dr. San to distribute TCH Vape System vape pens. However, the vape pens caused a number of attendees of the festival to sustain injuries from ingesting the vapes, with at least 19 passing away from the vapes. Heidecker and San were arrested, though Heidecker made a deal with the District Attorney, Vincent Rosetti, to be freed in exchange for Heidecker's testimony against San. Subsequently, San committed suicide in jail, and Rosetti began to once again build a case against Heidecker.
In November 2018, Heidecker was brought to trial for 20 counts of murder. The trial lasted 5 days, before a hung jury forced the judge, Edward Szymczyk, to declare a mistrial. Heidecker considered this outcome as an exoneration.
In 2018, Heidecker began facing legal pressure from the family of Chris Delgado, one of the attendees of the Electric Sun Desert Music Festival, who were unsatisfied by the outcome of the trial. Heidecker was forced to surrender most of his assets, including the rights to On Cinema and Decker, to Delgado Media Holdings.
In late 2018, Heidecker began a campaign to run for District Attorney of San Bernardino County, against Rosetti. His campaign was managed by Toni Newman, a former juror on Heidecker's murder trial, and was ultimately unsuccessful. The campaign was recorded in the documentary Mister America.
In 2019, Heidecker re-acquired the rights to On Cinema and other properties from Delgado Media Holdings. In order to better retain and manage these properties in the future, Heidecker founded HEI Inc. with a large cash investment from MoneyZap.
In 2020, exploring new avenues to take HEI Inc., Heidecker started the HEI Network, and brought over On Cinema as its flagship show.
In 2021, Heidecker invested in a plot of land known as the HEI Ranch, which he imagined as a large complex from which to run the HEI Network, as well as various other facilities and performing arts centers. Currently, no permanent buildings have been erected on the site.
Heidecker has recently been collaborating with the Amato Group on a variety of ventures, including lithium mining at the HEI Ranch.
Political views
Heidecker is a conservative and proponent of conservative values. Over the summer of 2012, Heidecker read an article covering President Obama's deals with solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.[9] This kickstarted his interest in politics, and he became highly outspoken over his perceived state of the country.
In 2012, he stated that while he wasn't “nuts about [Mitt] Romney,” he supported Romney in the 2012 election.[9]
During the second season of On Cinema at the Cinema, Heidecker created his 60-Second Soapbox segment, which he used to monologue about his views and ideas about various topics, mostly related to his political stances.
In late 2013, he attended a “Liberty Rally” where he met fan Jeff Stringer.[10]
During On Cinema Christmas Special, he was upset that Christmas was no longer as prominent during the holiday season, asking “what country is this?”
He once complained that movies “besmirched troops” by not giving them thanks.[11]
He proudly declared that he was paying for Dr. San's acupuncture out of pocket, because he felt that healthcare was a privilege, not a right.[7]
He speculated that, following the annexation of Crimea by Russia in early 2014, Russia would invade Ukraine in a nuclear war during late March or early April 2014, and proposed a preemptive strike by the United States.[12]
Health
Main article: Tim's medical conditions
Personal Life
Heidecker's life before the start of the On Cinema podcast is mostly unknown. He was raised in Pennsylvania, where his parents still live.[12] Heidecker has stated in an interview that he has no recollection of how he met Gregg Turkington.
Heidecker was previously married to Stephanie, with whom he had a son. After Heidecker developed what may have been blood clots from his brain in early 2013,[13] disagreements over treatment led to their divorce in Summer 2013.[14]
Following his divorce, at the end of July 2013, he began dating Ayaka Ohwaki,[15] who had previously stayed with Heidecker and his family as a foreign exchange student.[16] Due to a visa issue, however, she moved back to Japan near the end of August or the start of September 2013. Heidecker stated that while they had fun, the relationship was not working due to age and cultural differences between the two.[17]
Ohwaki later had Heidecker's son, Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr. After their divorce, Heidecker briefly dated and married Juliana Serradimigni, though the relationship broke apart shortly after. After Heidecker was tried for murder, he met one of the jurors, Toni Newman. They began a relationship and founded HEI Inc. together. The pair initially married in a small ceremony which they announced on s11e10. In an attempt at a romantic gesture, Tim divorced, proposed and remarried Toni on the 7th Annual On Cinema Oscar Special. After Toni went to rehab for alchoholism, she divorced Heidecker.
Heidecker stated in the 10th Annual On Cinema Oscar Special that he didn't have a good relationship with his father. During that same special, he was unofficially adopted by G. Amato, and began going by the name “T. Amato”.
Following the death of Matt Newman, Heidecker and Toni Newman began to become close again, with Newman's alcoholism relapsing. During AmatoCon, Heidecker claimed that G. Amato was involved in Matt Newman's death. In the aftermath, he disavowed his relationship with G. and no longer went by T. Amato.[18]
In late 2024, Heidecker re-signed his marriage license to Toni. In an attempt to change his name to Tim Newman-Heidecker, he instead accidentally changed his name to simply Newman Heidecker.[3] Toni, however, continued to call him Tim.[19]
After G. left the Amato Group, he was reportedly placed in a senior living facility. Heidecker began to reconnect with G., again considering him his father, now that he was no longer a part of the Amato Group.[20]
Trivia
- Heidecker has been unable to determine his favorite actor or director for long periods of time. He has previously stated his favorites are:
- He has seen Jack Reacher at least three times.[25]
- His three favorite genres of movie are sci-fi, comedy, and animated.[26]
- He did not like magic, but after watching The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, began practicing magic at home.[27]
- He enjoys stock car racing, stating NASCAR is his favorite but he also enjoys the Indy 500.[28]
- Tim’s body currently has the skin of at least 3 separate people; himself, Axiom,[29] and Manuel Giusti.
- Heidecker is forklift certified.[30]
- Previously, Tim managed a large number of shell companies that found their names inspired by his surname.
- His dream wife is Julianne Moore.[12]
List of non-appearances
[META] Trivia
- Tim Heidecker is played by, shockingly, Tim Heidecker, a comedian best known for his work with Eric Wareheim and Adult Swim, which produced On Cinema from 2012 to 2020.