Was Chris Hansen Involved In Primetime?

“You see how this looks, right?” 

This is one of Chris Hansen’s infamous To Catch A Predator catchphrases that made it into the movie. But, based on the TV star’s reaction to this film, this line can probably apply to him, too.

Chris Hansen, 67, is a television presenter and YouTube personality who is infamous for his Dateline NBC segment, To Catch A Predator. As the name implies, the segment centred around the work Hansen and the group ‘Perverted Justice’ did to lure predators to decoy houses under the pretense of meeting a minor, only for Hansen to appear, confront the predator, and catch them red-handed. This process was captured for primetime television, and viewers couldn’t get enough.

However, this all changed in 2006, when assistant district attorney Bill Conradt shot himself after Hansen, the police, and his camera crew arrived at his home in the wake of a failed sting at the decoy house. From then on, Hansen’s legacy was forever tarnished. This unraveling is dramatised in the recently-released Primetime, which stars Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen. But how much was Chris Hansen involved in Primetime, if at all? Let’s break it down.

Was Chris Hansen Involved in Primetime?

Chris Hansen has said himself that he wasn’t involved in the making of Primetime. In an August podcast appearance per The Wrap, the ex-journalist explained that he only found out that the movie was getting made after production had ended on it. 

“We had heard, you know, obviously, with all the different properties I have and all the platforms, some of the people who are involved in the management also tangentially have relationships in the Hollywood world. So we had heard that this was in the works a couple months ago,” he said. “They came out and said, ‘Hey, look, we’re doing this. We’d like you to have some sort of, you know, consideration in terms of helping us with this.’”

At the time, he said the trailer looked “very dramatic”, and went on to ask what Hollywood’s “motive” was. Trouble then brewed when Hansen was turned away from an advanced screening of the film after refusing to sign A24’s standard NDA to prevent spoilers from getting out. In an appearance on Fox News, he accused the production company of wanting him to “sign away [his] rights.”

That same month, he purchased ads for every single screening of Primetime. In the commercial, he directs viewers to his network TruBlu.

What Chris Hansen Said About Primetime

When Hansen (finally) saw the movie, it’s safe to say that he was unimpressed. 

In a video on his YouTube channel, ‘Have A Seat With Chris Hansen,’ he went all-in. “It was so bizarre and so in-and-out of reality,” Hansen said. “Obviously, I’m not objective because the character is me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I’ve experienced then or now doing the investigations. I’m not sure what the point of it was.”

The YouTuber also took aim at Pattinson’s performance. He described it as “so detached, so unhinged, so dark, so unlikeable… I mean, it’s upset my colleagues, current and former.”

Hansen then shared that he had around a dozen old crew members watch the film. Their verdict, he said, was that although the “film work was good,” they “got bored after the first 30 minutes.”

“[Director Lance Oppenheim] wanted to create a horror-like film with interesting photography and didn’t want to hear anything else,” he continued. “[He] didn’t want to have his mind polluted by anything positive that this actually achieved over the last 22 years.”

“Hollywood wants to demonize the guy doing what I think is very good work that has created a dialogue that didn’t exist before and an awareness that didn’t exist before,” he added. “And yet they turn him into the bad guy. And so you have to question the motives of not coming forward and talking to me or anybody who I worked closely with over the years. And they didn’t want to hear that Chris Hansen is a good guy. They didn’t want to hear that this work is important.”

Hansen also claimed that “almost every” scene depicted things that didn’t happen, and likened the film to a “hit piece” on him and To Catch A Predator.

Robert Pattinson Had a Great Reaction to Hansen’s Comments

At the BFI London Film Festival, an Entertainment Tonight reporter said to Pattinson, “Chris hasn’t been shy about his disappointment in the movie. What’s your response to his criticisms?”

”I mean, it’s weird. I was trying to make him cool,” Pattinson responded. ”I mean, like, he is cool. I’m like, a fan.”

“I think in some ways, it’s like an aesthetic thing,” he added. “What I think is cool might not be cool to other people.”

“From the screeners we’ve gone to, I think it’s amazing when you see really, really young audiences and people are turning up dressed as Chris Hansen,” he continued. “Everybody’s doing Chris Hansen impressions, and like they’re gonna be putting Chris Hansen posters on their walls. I think that's kind of awesome.”

“And it’s at the same age that I discovered him,” he noted. “And they can go back, and look at his work, and rediscover or discover all the important work he’s doing as well.”

Primetime is in cinemas now, so have a seat and see what the fuss is about.