here are some movie roles you can see coming. Robert Pattinson tackles Chris Hansen, and that was not one of them.
Yet that’s exactly what makes Primetime immediately intriguing. The upcoming A24 thriller drops audiences back into the mid-2000s and the rise of the television phenomenon that became To Catch a Predator, with Pattinson stepping into the role of the journalist whose confrontations became some of the most recognizable moments in reality-based television. And judging from the trailer, Primetime isn’t simply interested in recreating those confrontations. It’s looking at what was happening behind the cameras too.
Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen takes on a very different kind of role
Set in 2006, Primetime follows Hansen as he attempts to turn an unusual television investigation into something audiences can’t stop watching. A24’s official synopsis puts it simply: Hansen “sets out to make television history.” Anyone who remembers that era knows he pretty much did.
To Catch a Predator became a cultural phenomenon through sting operations, hidden cameras and Hansen’s instantly recognizable confrontations with adults who arrived at houses expecting to meet minors. But Primetime is clearly interested in something beyond the mechanics of those investigations.
The trailer presents Hansen as someone who understands he’s making television just as much as he’s conducting an investigation. That distinction is exactly where Robert Pattinson tackles something most actors wouldn’t think to touch.
Primetime looks beyond the famous confrontations
The real story behind To Catch a Predator has always lived somewhere between journalism, law enforcement, reality television and spectacle. Primetime appears ready to dig into all of those uncomfortable intersections.
Entertainment Weekly reports the movie was inspired by Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire article and examines both the rapid rise of the television operation and serious questions about how it was produced. That gives Pattinson a lot to work with.
Rather than simply doing an impression of Hansen, the movie can explore a television personality realizing that something he’s helping create is becoming far larger than anyone anticipated. The trailer certainly suggests ambition is central to the story. Cameras to position. Suspects to confront. A television audience waiting to see what happens next. Somewhere in the middle of all of that is the question of where journalism ends and entertainment begins.
To Catch a Predator movie: Lance Oppenheim makes his narrative feature debut
Primetime also marks a significant transition for director Lance Oppenheim, who makes his narrative feature debut after building a reputation through documentary filmmaking. That background feels particularly right for this material.
The movie dramatizes events built around real people who were themselves creating television from real-life situations. Having a filmmaker comfortable with documentary storytelling tackle that strange collision could give Primetime a very different texture from a conventional Hollywood true-story film.
Pattinson also serves as a producer on the film. He’s joined on screen by Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers, with Bokeem Woodbine among the larger cast.
Primetime trailer teases uncomfortable television history turned into a thriller
Pattinson keeps becoming one of the more interesting actors to watch simply because it’s getting harder and harder to predict what he’ll do next. Batman? Sure. A television journalist chasing potential predators while simultaneously chasing television history? Didn’t have that one on the bingo card.
That’s ultimately what makes Primetime worth paying attention to. Most audiences already know the basic image associated with To Catch a Predator: a man walks into a house, Hansen suddenly appears and an extremely uncomfortable conversation follows. But the machinery behind that television moment is another story entirely.
Who decided what viewers saw? How conscious were the people involved that they were creating entertainment? And what happens when an investigation becomes a ratings phenomenon?
Those are much bigger questions than simply asking whether Pattinson can recreate Hansen’s famous delivery.
Robert Pattinson Tackles Primetime and digs into the bigger questions
Robert Pattinson tackles something genuinely uncomfortable with this one, and the trailer suggests Primetime intends to dig into all of it while making audiences a little uneasy in the process.
Watch the trailer for Primetime below.
Primetime opens in theaters September 25.
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