'Tenet' star transforms into ‘To Catch a Predator’ host Chris Hansen for Lance Oppenheim's 'Primtetime'
Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised
A24 recently dropped the first teaser for the Lance Oppenheim-directed film 'Primetime.' The 63-second clip featured Robert Pattinson stepping into one of the actor’s most unexpected roles yet. 'The Batman' actor is portraying the notorious 'Dateline NBC' television journalist, Chris Hansen. The crime thriller will delve deep into the world of the reality television series 'To Catch a Predator' at the height of its mid-2000s cultural ubiquity. The intense teaser offered a glimpse of the peculiar world of true-crime television, which is often criticized for sensationalizing violence. This would mark the narrative feature debut of acclaimed documentarian Lance Oppenheim, who is fresh off his success with HBO's 'Ren Faire.' Oppenheim is known for documentaries like ‘Some Kind of Heaven,’ which explored unconventional subjects.
According to the official synopsis from A24, the film is rooted in true events: "In 2006, 'To Catch a Predator' host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history." The teaser offered much more insight into the narrative's tone through ominous, flickering footage captured by hidden lenses across multiple television monitors. Viewers also get to hear a deeply dramatic voiceover from Pattinson before he boldly introduces himself as the infamous investigator. "What would have happened if I weren't here?" Pattinson can be heard saying. "You see how this looks, right? At the end of the day, a man must be held accountable for the decisions that he makes, would you agree? Do you watch television? Well, there is something you should know. I'm Chris Hansen, with Dateline NBC, and you're about to be a part of television history."
'To Catch a Predator' premiered on NBC in November 2004 and ran for 20 episodes till 2007. It featured Hansen in multiple sting operations confronting men who showed up at a house to meet an underage boy or girl. The operations resulted in numerous arrests, adults engaged in s*xually explicit conversations with actors posing as minors, alongside members of law enforcement. The show proved incredibly popular, becoming a phenomenon for a while before it was canceled in 2008.
The Conradt incident became one of the show's biggest controversies and contributed to its eventual end. During the sting, Conradt's home was surrounded by a TV crew and police. But when authorities entered, he sh*t himself in the head. Though the 'Primetime' plot has been kept tightly under wraps, it's likely the story will dissect the morally gray, high-stakes fallout of the show's most controversial sting operations, which ultimately led to immense media scrutiny, massive lawsuits, and tragic real-world consequences. A release date for the film has not been revealed by A24 yet, though no release date has been officially announced.
