Chris Hansen, the former host of NBC Dateline's true-crime series To Catch a Predator, has offered a cryptic response to Robert Pattinson portraying him in A24's upcoming drama Primetime. The film, set for release in September, traces the origins of the investigative news program that ran from 2004 to 2007, documenting Hansen's operations to catch adult men attempting to meet minors for sex.
The movie also stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher, and Bokeem Woodbine, and marks director Lance Oppenheim's narrative feature debut. The first trailer, released earlier this week, showcases Pattinson's strikingly transformed voice as Hansen. In a voice-over, Pattinson says: "At the end of the day, man must be held accountable for the decisions that he makes. Do you agree? Do you watch television? Well, there's something you should know. I'm Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC, and you're about to be a part of television history."
Hansen's Reaction to the Trailer
Appearing on a recent segment of News Nation, the 66-year-old Hansen addressed the film's first look. Feigning shock, he exclaimed: "What? There's a movie trailer? What will they think of next?" When asked about Pattinson, he said: "He's an actor, right? Young, talented guy?" After being shown the clip, newscaster Jesse Weber remarked: "He sounds a lot like you." Hansen replied: "We had heard that there was something like this in the works. They reached out to me this week, and I've been asked not to talk about it a great deal at this point." When Weber pressed on the accuracy of Pattinson's impression, Hansen conceded: "Little bit. Very dramatic."
Background on Hansen and 'To Catch a Predator'
Hansen presented To Catch a Predator throughout its three-year run. The series was cancelled in 2008 after the suicide of Texas assistant district attorney Bill Conradt, who was served an arrest warrant during production. Hansen joined NBC in 1993 as a correspondent for Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric. He has won eight Emmy awards for his investigative reporting. After leaving NBC in 2013, he continued his work on Takedown with Chris Hansen, streaming on TruBlu, and hosts the Have a Seat podcast, where he shares behind-the-scenes details of his stings.
Primetime is expected to premiere in theaters this September, though an exact date has not yet been announced.
