MRTNKI_042 _ MARTIN KUMARI IMEDEMAAL: PRIMETIME / GAMEOVER _ Hansen's response_ WIKIPEDIA / POSTITANTSUKONN 04. 10. 2026
/.../ Hansen wanted to end the advertisement with the disclaimer that Primetime is "a Hollywood fantasy version" of true events, but was advised against it to avoid potential legal action by A24.[85] Hansen told the Columbia Journalism Review that he rejected involvement in a pitched promotional campaign: "[A24 seemed] eager to whore me out in a promotional campaign ... [all] this bullshit about Robert this and Robert that and 'We'll do a podcast, you can fly to London.' I don't care, honestly. I'm really fucking busy being the real Chris Hansen. It’s a seven-day-a-week job."[81] In response to Hansen's criticisms, Oppenheim said he was "excited for him to have a seat and watch the movie in a movie theater, if that's where he chooses to watch it ... I'm excited to hear what he has to say about it."[11]/.../
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Primetime (film)
Primetime is a 2026 American psychological thriller film[a] directed by Lance Oppenheim from a screenplay by Ajon Singh. It dramatizes the production of the reality television series To Catch a Predator (2004–2007); Robert Pattinson portrays its host Chris Hansen, an NBC journalist who works with the vigilante group Perverted-Justice to catch child predators in sting operations. Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, and Phoebe Bridgers appear in supporting roles.
Oppenheim, who had previously directed documentaries, conceived Primetime as his first narrative feature film after his wife hired Hansen to record a Cameo video for him in 2024. Singh based the script on Luke Dittrich's 2007 Esquire article "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die", which details the botched To Catch a Predator sting operation that culminated in the 2006 suicide of Bill Conradt, and sought to make a stylized retelling rather than a biographical film. Principal photography took place from February to March 2025; the cinematographer David Bolen used 12 camera formats, seeking to replicate To Catch a Predator sting operations and digital recordings.
Primetime premiered at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 2026, and was released theatrically by A24 in the United States on September 25. It has grossed $28.9 million against a $14.5 million budget and received positive reviews. Hansen was not consulted during the production and criticized the film as "detached from reality".[9]
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Hansen's response
The Primetime crew did not consult Hansen during production. Hansen said he learned about Primetime in late 2025, and that he was informed that Oppenheim intended it as a "love letter to [him]"; Oppenheim disputed this in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review.[81] When asked about it in May 2026, Hansen said, "they reached out to me this week, and I've been asked not to talk about it a great deal at this point."[82] Of the trailer, Hansen said: "It looks very dramatic. I know [Pattinson] is a popular actor, and I know the director is a popular guy. I also have some questions: What's Hollywood's motive here?"[57] He added that Pattinson's performance looked "almost vampirish",[42] and that he and his family agreed that Pattison's imitation of his voice was "pretty good", if overly dramatic.[83] Hansen also said he had once written his own biographical screenplay and expressed a preference for Denis Leary as the lead.[57]
On Jesse Watters Primetime, Hansen said a lawyer from A24 asked him before a private screening to sign a contract that would "take away his name, image, and brand, essentially, as well as any potential legal rights that would come out of the movie". Hansen refused to sign it after speaking with his lawyers. A source close to A24 told Variety that the agreement was a standard non-disclosure agreement (NDA) signed by preview audiences to prevent spoilers and protect the studio's intellectual property.[84] Hansen attested that Osit did not have to sign an NDA before he saw Primetime,[42] and that the NDA included an agreement not to take legal action against A24.[85]
Hansen purchased pre-show advertising for every theatrical screening of Primetime.[85] The ads show Hansen in a kitchen like the ones seen in his sting operations, asking the audience to "take a seat" before directing the audience to his streaming service TruBlu.[85] Hansen wanted to end the advertisement with the disclaimer that Primetime is "a Hollywood fantasy version" of true events, but was advised against it to avoid potential legal action by A24.[85] Hansen told the Columbia Journalism Review that he rejected involvement in a pitched promotional campaign: "[A24 seemed] eager to whore me out in a promotional campaign ... [all] this bullshit about Robert this and Robert that and 'We'll do a podcast, you can fly to London.' I don't care, honestly. I'm really fucking busy being the real Chris Hansen. It’s a seven-day-a-week job."[81] In response to Hansen's criticisms, Oppenheim said he was "excited for him to have a seat and watch the movie in a movie theater, if that's where he chooses to watch it ... I'm excited to hear what he has to say about it."[11]
Hansen was critical of Primetime after seeing it: "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."[9] He felt Primetime portrayed him in a "twisted, dark, [and] dishonest" manner and said the filmmakers were "just as big of predators as the people who get caught in these investigations". Oppenheim responded that Hansen was a "complicated hero", that he "wanted to show what the effects were on someone who does this work", and that Primetime "[isn't meant] to be representational of reality in any way." Hansen subsequently invited Oppenheim and Pattinson to appear on his podcast.[81]
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