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Primetime is definitely one of the most anticipated films of the year. The film stars Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, and it shows the rise and fall of To Catch a Predator, the hit NBC shows in the ‘00s. The show was shut down because one of the predators was a public official and the guy ended up killing himself. I think Primetime shows part of that story too. Anyway, the trailer already has millions of views and they’ve already memeified Robert Pattinson’s “you know how this looks, right?” Pattinson actually seems to be doing a pretty good impression of the real Hansen. Since the trailer came out, people have wondered if the real Chris Hansen was involved in the film, or whether he’ll end up suing people or whatever. Well, the real Hansen recently spoke to a podcast and he was surprisingly easy-going about all of this.

Hansen hasn’t seen Primetime yet: The journalist has yet to see Primetime, but he said that he’s set to view the movie in a private screening within the next week. “And then I’ll be able to tell you whether I like it or don’t like it, and how dramatized it is,” he said. “And my suspicion is that they used my name because it helps in a commercial enterprise. And until I see the full movie, as a reporter, it’s sort of silly for me to talk about something that I haven’t seen yet. So I’m gonna see it.”

Who he would have cast as himself: “I always thought, you know, I had discussions years ago about — I had crafted a script, and I thought Denis Leary would be a good guy to play me, depending on the age of it all.” All that said, “I’m busy being the real Chris Hansen.”

He was contacted by someone: “Some of the people who are involved in [my] management also tangentially have relationships in the Hollywood world. So we had heard that this was in the works… A couple months ago, they came out and said, ‘Hey, look, we’re doing this. We’d like you to have some sort of consideration in terms of helping us with this.’” [Hansen] noted he wasn’t actually consulted on the film and the project was made before “they” reached out.

His thoughts on the trailer: “It looks dramatic. It looks very dramatic. I know [Robert Pattinson] is a popular actor and I know the director [Lance Oppenheim] is a popular guy. I also have some questions: What’s Hollywood’s motive here?”

[From EW & The Hollywood Reporter]

My possibly controversial take is that Chris Hansen still believes that To Catch a Predator was doing good, nay, IMPORTANT work, and he figures that this film will encourage the audience to rethink his legacy and To Catch a Predator’s legacy. While Rob Pattinson is definitely playing Hansen as a gonzo journalist (emphasis on gonzo), Pattinson is so well-liked (and such a well-established weirdo himself) that it might even work in Hansen’s favor. My prediction is that outlets like Salon and New York Magazine will start running pieces along the lines of “what was so wrong about catching predators” and “so Chris Hansen made catching predators into entertainment, who cares.”

Can I just say? While I’m definitely interested in seeing Pattinson’s performance, the fact that Merrit Wever has such a central role as Hansen’s producer/enabler has really sold me on this. Wever is one of the best and most underrated actresses of her generation – if she said yes to this, the script must have been fantastic.

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