Robert Pattinson has shared his reaction to Chris Hansen’s criticism of Primetime, which was released on September 25. Addressing Hansen’s comments, the 40-year-old actor, who stars in the psychological thriller directed by Lance Oppenheim, said, “He is cool.”
Robert Pattinson responds to Chris Hansen’s criticism of Primetime at the London Film Festival
Primetime draws inspiration from Chris Hansen’s time hosting To Catch a Predator. The investigative journalist hosted the landmark Dateline NBC segment from 2004 to 2007. The show ended in 2008 following controversy over a 2006 sting operation involving Texas assistant district attorney Bill Conradt. During the operation, Conradt shot himself after officers and a film crew reportedly entered his home. The show never aired the episode.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly during a screening of the film at the BFI London Film Festival, the actor expressed, “It’s weird. I was trying to make him, I was trying to make him cool. He is cool. I mean, it’s like, I’m like a fan.”
Pattinson further stated, “I think in some ways it’s like an aesthetic thing, where you kind of, what I think is cool might not be cool to other people. But from the screenings 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, and everybody’s doing Chris Hansen impressions… and it’s at the same age that I discovered him and then [they] go back and look at his work and rediscover or discover all the kind of important work he’s doing as well.”
Hansen called the film, produced by A24, “a complete work of fiction attached to a real name.” He said, as stated by The Hollywood Reporter, “Based upon what I’ve seen in the trailer and my understanding of what has been written about the film, they wanted to create something much darker and way more dramatic.” Adding, “I think it’s an insult to the thousands of men and women who work hard every day to protect children from predators.”
Although the film has already been released in the U.S., it will hit theaters across the UK on October 30. The film also stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, and Bokeem Woodbine.
