Chris Hansen on the A24 Film That Put Robert Pattinson in His Shoes: "I'm Busy Being the Real Chris Hansen"
Chris Hansen has not seen Primetime yet, but the former To Catch a Predator host has plenty to say about the A24 film that cast Robert Pattinson as him.
Speaking with podcaster Annie Elise, Hansen said he would wait until the following week to watch the film before passing judgement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But he offered preliminary thoughts on the trailer, calling it "very dramatic" and noting that Pattinson is a popular actor and Lance Oppenheim is a popular director. He still had questions. "What's Hollywood's motive here?" he asked.
Primetime is directed by Oppenheim and stars Pattinson alongside Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, Queen Latifah and Denis Leary. A24 is producing the film, which is set to reach theatres on 25 September, per The Hollywood Reporter. A teaser trailer featuring Pattinson in the Hansen role surfaced earlier in August (Rotten Tomatoes on TikTok).
Hansen told Elise that a couple of months earlier, "they" had approached him about having some involvement with the project. But he was never actually consulted, he said, and the film was already in motion before they reached out. His suspicion, he said, is that his name was used because it helps in a commercial enterprise.
He also did not get to pick who would play him on screen. When asked who he would have chosen, Hansen said he had once written a script of his own years ago and thought Denis Leary would be a good fit, depending on the age range they were going for. Leary, as it happens, appears in the Primetime cast — though not in the Hansen role.
For context, Hansen hosted To Catch a Predator, a recurring series of Dateline NBC segments that ran from 2004 to 2007. The operation worked with the watchdog group Perverted Justice to lure suspected predators to sting houses rigged with hidden cameras. It was cancelled amid legal and ethical fallout after one suspect shot himself as police and NBC's cameras entered his home, as The Hollywood Reporter notes.
What gives the exchange its bite is the gap between Hansen the person and Hansen the character. A major studio-backed drama is turning a chapter of television history — one that ended in real tragedy — into a theatrical feature, and the man at its centre says he was left on the outside of the process. Whether that matters to audiences is a separate question from whether the film itself works, and Hansen, for his part, is not rushing to answer either one.
As for what he is doing instead of weighing in further? "I'm busy being the real Chris Hansen."
