Robert Pattinson, 40, takes on the role of real-life paedophile hunter Chris Hansen, 66, in the A24 film Primetime, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The film focuses on Hansen's mission to make history with the controversial reality show To Catch a Predator on NBC. A teaser featuring Pattinson's dark portrayal of the TV presenter was dubbed 'trailer of the year' earlier this year.
The Premise of To Catch a Predator
The premise of To Catch a Predator was to air real-life footage of adults trying to engage in sexual activities with children below the age of 16. The show featured stings, confrontations, and arrests, all hosted by Dateline NBC presenter Hansen.
Producers collaborated with online watchdog group Perverted-Justice to pose as underage children in chat rooms. Suspected sexual predators would arrive at a fake property, where adult decoys would interact with them before Hansen confronted them with his infamous line: 'Why don't you have a seat right there?' Suspects would often argue their case or flee, only to be arrested by local law enforcement waiting outside.
Premiering in November 2004, the show was a huge success, drawing ratings of 7,000,000 per episode and becoming a cultural phenomenon across America.
Why Was It Cancelled?
The programme aired just 20 episodes between 2004 and 2007 but was cancelled in 2008 following the suicide of Bill Conradt. Conradt, 56, was an assistant district attorney in Rockwall County, Texas, accused of exchanging messages with a Perverted-Justice decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy.
A sting had been operating for weeks before Conradt stopped online communication and it became clear he wouldn't attend an intended meet-up. For the first time, the show took the sting to the suspect's home, with an arrest warrant issued on the day. Hansen, a television crew, and a seven-man SWAT team arrived at Conradt's house, forcing open a sliding-glass door to confront him. He was seen standing in the hallway, declaring 'I'm not gonna hurt anybody', before shooting himself.
Conradt's estate, managed by his sister Patricia, sued Dateline for $105 million, and the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. The show attracted criticism, accused of 'making news, rather than reporting news' and 'blurring the lines of being a news organisation versus an agency of law enforcement'. Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker said: 'When a TV show makes you feel sorry for potential child-rapists, you know it's doing something wrong,' adding that it 'had a whiff of entrapment'.
Hansen's Response and Legacy
Hansen has insisted the show was not cancelled because of Conradt's suicide, suggesting it had simply 'run its course'. Since going off air, the show has been rebooted twice: first as Hansen vs Predator, and later as Takedown with Chris Hansen, which aired on the TruBlu streaming network, a true crime network he co-founded.
Hansen has said the film is 'totally made up', telling Entertainment Tonight: 'And that's the part of this that the public needs to know, is that this is a work of fiction.' He added that Pattinson does a 'pretty good imitation' of him in the trailer. Hansen claimed lawyers at A24 'wanted me to sign away my rights to my name, image and brand, essentially, as well as any potential legal rights that would come out of the movie', adding: 'I couldn't sign that, so they didn't show me the film. I went all the way over there.' A source close to A24 said the NDA Hansen was asked to sign is the same that every preview audience must adhere to for an unreleased project.
