India's censor board also muted profanity twice and slapped a viewer discretion warning on the Chris Hansen drama, clearing it just three days before its Friday release.
Three days out from release, and Primetime finally has its Indian censor certificate.
Bollywood Hungama reported that the Central Board of Film Certification cleared the Robert Pattinson film with an A rating, but not without asking for cuts. Seven seconds of frontal nudity had to go entirely. Obscene words were muted at two separate points in the film. And the board tacked on a written warning at the start, telling viewers the film deals with sensitive material and disturbing sequences, urging discretion.
The certified print reached the studio, PVR Inox Pictures, on September 22, per the same report. Running time on the certificate comes to 110.15 minutes, so just under an hour and fifty-one minutes once you do the math.
That's a tight window between certification and release. Primetime opens in Indian theatres this Friday alongside a clutch of other Hollywood titles, and the timeline suggests distributors were cutting it close on paperwork even as promotional buzz around Pattinson's casting had already built up.
What's the film actually about? Primetime is based on Luke Dittrich's 2007 Esquire piece, 'Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die.' Pattinson plays Chris Hansen, the NBC journalist who fronted 'To Catch A Predator,' the show that lured suspected online predators into rigged decoy homes on camera. It's dark, procedural territory, and the CBFC's added disclaimer only reinforces how unflinching the source material apparently is.
The film isn't a solo Pattinson vehicle either. Skyler Gisondo, Merritt Wever, Matthew Maher, Phoebe Bridgers and Anna Faris round out the cast, according to Bollywood Hungama's report, giving it a bench of names that should draw attention beyond Pattinson's fanbase.
Primetime already has festival pedigree behind it. It played in competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, which tends to mean critics have had their say well before an Indian audience gets a look. Whether that critical reception travels, and whether the CBFC's trims change how the film lands with local audiences, is something we'll only know once it's actually running in cinemas.
For now, the certificate is locked, the runtime is set, and Friday isn't far off.
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