Robert Pattinson’s new A24 film Primetime premiered at Venice while the real person he portrays was publicly challenging the way the movie depicts him. Chris Hansen, the former To Catch a Predator host played by Pattinson, says the film is fictionalized and that he was not involved in making it.
Pattinson addressed the situation at the festival and said he hopes Hansen likes the movie. He also said Hansen’s presence on television was magnetic, which helped him understand why people still talk about the show two decades later.
What Primetime is about
Primetime is set in 2006, when Hansen was hosting To Catch a Predator for NBC’s Dateline. A24 describes it as the story of Hansen setting out to make television history. Lance Oppenheim directed the film, with Pattinson starring alongside Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, and Bokeem Woodbine.
The film is scheduled to open in theaters on September 25, 2026. It is a drama inspired by a real television figure, not a documentary or a production made with Hansen’s approval.
Why Chris Hansen objects
Hansen said he was not consulted during production and only learned the film was being made after filming had finished. He has not seen the completed movie. A24 arranged a private screening, but Hansen left after declining the nondisclosure agreement he was asked to sign.
He has also criticized the version of him shown in the trailer, saying Pattinson’s performance is overly dramatic and includes things Hansen never said or did. Hansen wants the movie described more clearly as fiction rather than as a story that closely represents his life, and he has questioned why the filmmakers used his name.
Pattinson’s response keeps the dispute open
Pattinson has not answered each of Hansen’s complaints point by point. His response is more personal: he says he was fascinated by Hansen’s on-camera presence and hopes the real host sees the performance as a compliment. That does not resolve the questions about permission, accuracy, or how much of the film is invented.
The movie arrives with those questions unresolved. Viewers should treat it as a dramatized account of a familiar television story, while Hansen’s comments make clear that it is not his version of events.
