Robert Pattinson Brings ‘To Catch a Predator’ to Life in New Film ‘Primetime’ – WTOP News
- On Friday, September 25, 2026, the A24 film Primetime opens in theaters, starring Robert Pattinson as television journalist Chris Hansen. The movie dramatizes the rise and collapse of the NBC series To Catch a Predator.
- Running from 2004 to 2008, the series featured Hansen working with Perverted-Justice to lure suspected predators into sting houses, generating 238 apprehensions, though only 36 resulted in convictions.
- Director Lance Oppenheim explores the show's dark reality through the eyes of Decoy Dan, a struggling actor played by Skyler Gisondo, depicting the production's intense pressure to deliver sensationalist content.
- Following the show's abrupt 2006 cancellation after a subject's suicide, Hansen criticized the film as an "insult," claiming the movie depicts events that did not occur in reality.
- Critics highlight the film's stylistic use of early-2000s aesthetics to mirror the era, though the movie faces scrutiny regarding its ambiguous stance on whether it critiques or exploits trauma.
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157 Articles
A new film revisits one of the most controversial programs on American television in the 2000s - in which traps were armed to attract paedophiles.
Robert Pattinson stars as Chris Hansen in “Primetime,” a reimagining of one of the most controversial stories in American television. The new A24 production had its world premiere on September 5th in competition at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, with Pattinson playing the journalist who rose to fame in “To Catch a Predator.” Directed by Lance Oppenheim, “Primetime” harks back to the era when NBC’s investigations into adults who allegedly sought …
Primetime brings to the cinema the story of Chris Hansen and To Catch to Predator, with Robert Pattinson as protagonist.
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TMZChris Hansen Says 98% of ‘Primetime’ Is Pure Fiction, Gives Robert Pattinson D Rating
Chris Hansen had a seat and watched "Primetime" ... and he scathingly called the film "over the top" and Robert Pattinson's version of himself "so detached, so unhinged, so dark, so unlikable."
In 2004, the provocative format “Catching a Predator” was released, combining investigation, police action and telereality; today it revives on the big screen of the actor’s hand that could win an Oscar for the role
Robert Pattinson reveals ‘strange’ condition behind starring in ‘Primetime’
Robert Pattinson reveals ‘strange’ condition behind starring in ‘Primetime’ Robert Pattinson only agreed to star in Primetime when the project became “more esoteric and strange.”The Twilight actor stars as journalist Chris Hansen in the movie, directed by...
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