Robert Pattinson was bribed with 200 cans of Zyn to play Chris Hansen

Robert Pattinson took the lead in A24's Primetime after 200 cans of Zyn landed on his doorstep.

The Batman star plays Chris Hansen, the host of the hidden-camera NBC series To Catch a Predator, in the new film. Director Lance Oppenheim told Variety that Pattinson had first signed on only as a producer.

That plan changed during casting. Oppenheim said Pattinson was struggling with a Zyn habit at the time, just as the nicotine pouches were in short supply in the United States.

So Oppenheim called a friend in Canada. The friend posted 200 canisters to Pattinson's home in Los Angeles.

The parcel carried the new draft of the script. With it was a letter that began "Dear Chris Han-Zyn".

Screenwriter Ajon Singh had reworked the script to persuade Pattinson to star, according to Variety. Pattinson read the revision and agreed.

Singh had waited a long time for that yes. He told The Hollywood Reporter he spent years being told the script had no commercial appeal.

The interest was not one-sided. Pattinson had been a fan of To Catch a Predator on his own before the film came together, Oppenheim wrote in a director's note for A24.

A24 lists Primetime as a 2026 film and describes it as inspired by true events in 2006. Its synopsis says Hansen sets out to make television history, which in the film means obsessively confronting suspected child predators for Dateline NBC, the network's news magazine strand.

What makes this stand out is how ordinary the deal mechanics were. No hard sell. Just a rewrite, a joke letter and a very specific bribe.

The trailer has already given audiences one talking point, with former CNN chief Jeff Zucker seen dissing Pattinson's Hansen.