The former ‘To Catch a Predator’ host called Pattinson’s performance ‘overly dramatic’ and said the film felt detached from his real‑life investigations.
Chris Hansen walked out of A24’s office on a Thursday, refusing to sit through the final cut of Primetime. The former To Catch a Predator host later filmed a short video outside a Mumbai theatre, where he called Robert Pattinson’s take on him “overly dramatic.”
The A24 crime thriller, directed by Lance Oppenheim, hit Indian screens on September 25. It dramatizes the 2006 era when Hansen’s show moved from Dateline NBC to its own primetime slot. While the studio markets the film as “inspired by true events,” Hansen says the script bears little resemblance to his actual investigative work.
“It was so bizarre and so in‑and‑out of reality,” Hansen said in the video. “Obviously, I’m not objective because the character is, you know, 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.”
Hansen’s family, he added, thought the likeness was “fairly accurate,” but the host himself could not get past the theatrical liberties. He also mentioned a legal agreement A24 asked him to sign before he entered their offices, describing it as unlike anything he’d seen before. The contract, according to Variety, was presented on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime in August.
The film explores the behind‑the‑scenes frenzy that surrounded the controversial series, mixing media criticism with a stylised look at the early‑2000s internet‑safety craze. Critics have noted the irony of turning a public‑service crusade into a prestige‑circuit thriller.
Hansen promises a deeper dive on his own podcast and YouTube channel later this week. Whether his comments will sway the film’s already‑buzzed‑about opening weekend remains to be seen, but they’ve already added a fresh layer of debate to the A24 release.
For now, audiences can decide if Pattinson’s performance feels like a tribute or a caricature, while the real‑life investigator watches from the sidelines, still guarding his own version of the truth.
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