How Chris Hansen Really Feels About Robert Pattinson's Primetime

Lance Oppenheim's new film "Primetime" focuses on NBC journalist Chris Hansen, the host of the popular crime documentary series "To Catch a Predator." That series, which ran from 2004 to 2007, detailed efforts to lure potential sex criminals to sting houses after they had arranged meetings with minors online. Hansen would then confront the predators on camera. The show was terrifically popular, although it has invited accusations of entrapment. 

Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen in "Primetime," and the film has received some very positive reviews. It currently holds an 87% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 143 reviews. Critics have made mention of the film's ultra-saturated style and that it serves as a great indictment of media-induced bloodlust. How much of "To Catch a Predator" was about justice, the film seems to ask, and how much of it was just lurid entertainment? Not that the film goes soft on predators, but it also notes that "To Catch a Predator" was a form of darkness all its own. /Film's own Chris Evangelista called "Primetime" a dark and unsettling satire thriller, and rated the film a 7.5 out of 10. 

Now, Chris Hansen himself has seen "Primetime," and, as one might assume, he's not so fond of it. As reported by Variety, Hansen appeared on the Fox News interview program "Jesse Watters Primetime" to iterate that he had nothing to do with the film's production, adding that he didn't see it until it was complete. He also mentioned that Pattinson did "a pretty good imitation" of him, even if he was "overly dramatic." 

"Primetime", however, was bizarre to Hansen, who further recorded his first reaction upon leaving the theater.

While critics have noted that "Primetime" might serve as an indictment of salacious TV justice, Chris Hansen was unable to see that element. He noted: 

"It was so bizarre and so in-and-out of reality. [...] Obviously, I'm not objective because the character is, you know, me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I've experienced, then or now, doing the investigations. I'm not sure what the point of it was." 

"Primetime" took its inspiration from a 2007 Equire article called "Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die," written by Luke Dittrich. In addition to Robert Pattinson, the film stars Skyler Gisondo as an aspiring actor who is roped into being part of the "To Catch a Predator" sting operations, a character inspired by real-life decoy actor Dan Schrack. Merritt Weaver plays a character named Andie, who is a fictionalized version of various "To Catch a Predator" producers. Jeff Zucker, who once oversaw programming at NBC, plays himself. Alex Winter plays real-life Texas ADA Bill Conradt. 

Winter, in a Vanity Fair interview, seemed to understand exactly what "Primtime" was getting at. "I think it's such a brilliant response to the surreal, almost absurd nature of this particular discourse at this point," he said, "and the complete lack of empathy for the people involved on either side of it." Hansen made no comment on concepts of empathy.

A lot of the events of "Primetime" have also been covered by the bleak 2025 documentary film "Preadtors" by David Osit. Chris Hansen is actually interviewed on camera for that film, pictured above. If you want to know more about the film's ending and why "To Catch a Predator" came to an end, we've got you covered.

"Primetime" is now playing in theaters.