Former To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen was interviewed on his podcast Friday to give his unfiltered reaction to A24‘s unauthorized, dramatized film about parts of his life, Primetime, which he called overly dramatic, detached from reality, and a “fever dream” — while giving Robert Pattinson‘s performance a “D” grade.
Primetime, which opens Friday in the U.S., is set in 2006 and follows Pattinson’s fictionalized version of Hansen as the popular To Catch a Predator segment on NBC’s Dateline grows into its own primetime block on the network. On the show, Hansen blurred journalistic lines by working with law enforcement and the watchdog group Perverted Justice to intercept adult men as they arrived, unbeknownst to them, at a sting house to meet a minor they’d met online for sex. The men were typically arrested as a result. The series drew mixed reactions, with concerns about potential entrapment-law violations at the forefront of the criticism.
In a brief segment produced for his video podcast, Have a Seat with Chris Hansen, the former NBC News journalist is seen exiting a Times Square AMC after viewing the film for the first time at a Thursday night screening — his first look at the indie drama since its theatrical release. He’s then asked for his first reaction to the Lance Oppenheim-directed film.
“It’s hard for me to — obviously, I’m not a judge, because the character is based on me,” he said. “I think because the character is so detached from reality, from anything I’ve ever experienced then or now doing the investigations — I’m not sure what the point of it was.”
The rest of the podcast episode has Hansen discussing the film, its director and Pattinson’s portrayal of him with Fox News’ Jesse Watters. Hansen railed against the movie throughout.
Oppenheim has said he conceived Primetime after receiving a personalized Cameo video from the To Catch a Predator host. Hansen said on his podcast that he spoke to a mutual friend before seeing the film, and that Oppenheim told the friend it was “something to the effect of, ‘a love letter to Chris Hansen, and it gets a little weird in the storytelling.’”
Hansen also flagged inaccuracies in the fictionalized version of his life — including scenes involving Jeff Zucker and Stone Phillips that he insists never happened — and said absolutely nothing in the film was close to reality. He assured viewers he’s not the ratings-obsessed figure the script conjures. His biggest gripe, he said, is that the film portrays him as an aloof parent, which he says is far from how he relates to his kids. As for Pattinson’s take on Hansen circa 2006, Hansen had few kind words.
“He’s got work to do. I’m kind of the only guy that counts for this, right?” he said.
Days before seeing the movie, Hansen spoke with The Hollywood Reporter‘s Seth Abramovich about what he knew of the film. A24 hadn’t reached out to him or the production to explain the premise or ask for his input, he said.
“Based upon what I’ve seen in the trailer and my understanding of what’s been written about the film, they wanted to create something much darker and way more dramatic,” he said. “I think it’s an insult to the thousands of men and women who work hard every day to protect children from predators. They’ve turned something that is very positive, very challenging and not without risk into what is essentially a horror film.”
On Friday, after viewing Primetime, he doubled down with a direct swipe at Oppenheim.
“You have to question the motives of not coming forward and talking to me or anybody I’ve worked closely with over the years,” he said. “They didn’t want to hear that Chris Hansen is a good guy. They didn’t want to hear that this work is important. This director had a dark image of what he wanted to do. He wanted to create a horror-like film with interesting photography, and didn’t want to hear anything else.”
Hansen continues identifying and capturing potential child predators on Takedown with Chris Hansen. Earlier on Friday, Hansen’s TruBlu streaming network dropped the trailer for I’m Chris Hansen, a documentary centered around the host.