Chris Hansen gives Robert Pattinson's Primetime turn a D
Chris Hansen has watched Robert Pattinson play him — and gave the performance a D.
The former Dateline NBC journalist shared his verdict after seeing A24's Primetime, a 2026 unauthorised, dramatised film about parts of his life, at a Thursday night screening at a Times Square AMC for his video podcast Have a Seat with Chris Hansen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Primetime is set in 2006. It follows Pattinson as a fictionalised version of Hansen as To Catch a Predator, the hidden-camera investigation strand, grows into its own primetime block on NBC's Dateline.
Hansen called the film overly dramatic, detached from reality and a "fever dream". He said A24 had not reached out to explain the premise or ask for his input.
He also flagged specific scenes as things that never happened. Those included moments involving former NBC executive Jeff Zucker and former Dateline anchor Stone Phillips.
There is an irony in how the project started. Director Lance Oppenheim conceived Primetime after receiving a personalised Cameo video message from Hansen himself.
Hansen had criticised the portrayal before seeing the finished film. Based on the trailer, he had described it as "overly dramatic" and questioned Hollywood's motives in dramatising his story, according to Variety.
His family saw it differently at that stage. Hansen said his wife and children thought Pattinson's imitation was a "pretty good imitation", according to Variety.
Pattinson had said he hoped Hansen would come to see the film and hoped he would like it, according to Deadline. He has now seen it. The D grade suggests the wish did not land.
What makes this stand out is the distance between subject and screen. An unauthorised life story means the real person watches like everyone else, ticket in hand, with no say in the script.
