Chris Hansen calls A24's Primetime fiction and discusses legal action
Chris Hansen says A24's Primetime is a "complete work of fiction" and has discussed potential legal action against the studio, in an interview published on 1 October after he watched the film Variety.
The interview, conducted a few days after the viewing, sets Hansen's account against an A24 release that revisits his former television work. Primetime is listed by A24 as a 2026 film from director Lance Oppenheim, centred on To Catch a Predator, the Dateline segment that ran from 2004 to 2007 Variety.
Robert Pattinson plays Hansen in the film. A24 also credits Merritt Wever as starring A24. A24's synopsis states that in 2006, Hansen sets out to make television history.
The film is based on the 2009 Esquire article "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die." Its storyline leads up to the 2006 suicide of Louis William Conradt Jr., an assistant district attorney in Murphy, Texas, who died after a police sting conducted in coordination with the Predator team Variety.
Hansen told Variety that the only non-fictionalised elements are the use of his name and two or three catchphrases. He said that while an assistant district attorney tragically took his own life, the film's portrayal of the circumstances, timeline and events is not truthful.
He gave a different account of the case. He said Conradt did not come to the house used in the operation, and police obtained an arrest warrant based on probable cause. He said Conradt, according to police and evidence, had conducted sexually explicit conversations with decoys posing as two different teenage boys.
Hansen also said a Texas Rangers investigation determined that the computer from which Conradt was trying to remove the hard drive contained child sexually abusive material. On the final confrontation, Hansen cited Murphy police, saying Conradt had a gun in his hand, told officers "I'm not going to hurt you guys," and took his own life.
Oppenheim has described a different method behind the film. In an A24 note published on 25 September, he said the film team uncovered reality the same way the To Catch a Predator apparatus did.
Hansen had earlier gone to A24 to watch Primetime but left without seeing it after refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement. He has continued to work in the same field. His current programme Takedown With Chris Hansen, launched in 2022, is hosted on the media platform TruBlu Variety.
