Chris Hansen is not announcing an immediate lawsuit over Robert Pattinson playing him in Primetime. First, he wants to see the movie.
The former To Catch a Predator host told Page Six that he and his lawyers will evaluate whether there is any basis for legal action once he knows exactly how the A24 drama portrays him and his work. Hansen has not said he has decided to sue.
Getting that first look has already become a dispute of its own. Hansen went to A24’s New York offices for a private screening on Aug. 20 but left without watching the film after declining to sign an agreement that he says went far beyond an ordinary confidentiality form.
A source familiar with the situation has disputed Hansen’s characterization, saying the document was a standard NDA required of preview audiences to prevent spoilers and protect an unreleased movie. Hansen still has not seen Primetime and says he intends to judge the finished film before deciding what, if anything, to do next.
Hansen Says He Will Judge His Legal Options After Seeing the Movie
Hansen told Page Six that he was not contacted about Primetime until May, after production was already complete. He said he was told that his authorization was not required because the movie is a fictionalized dramatization rather than an authorized biography made with his participation.
He is not yet prepared to say whether that ends the matter. Hansen said his lawyers need to see exactly how the film uses his identity and portrays events associated with To Catch a Predator before they can determine whether there is anything worth pursuing.
He said he would have expected filmmakers using the name and likeness of a living person to approach that person during development, rather than after the film had already been shot.
The Private Screening Ended Before the Movie Started
Hansen arrived at A24’s offices on Aug. 20 expecting to watch Primetime. During an appearance on Jesse Watters Primetime later that day, he said his attorneys had already reviewed the paperwork and advised him against signing it.
“The lawyers at A24 wanted me to sign away my rights to my name, image and brand, essentially, as well as any potential legal rights that would come out of the movie,” Hansen said. “I couldn’t sign that, so they didn’t show me the film.”
He called the agreement “very restrictive” and said he had never encountered anything comparable during his career. Hansen also said other people had been able to see the movie without signing the same document.
That account is disputed. A source with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap that Hansen had been sent the agreement about a week before the screening and that it was the standard NDA required of preview audiences for an unreleased film. According to the source, its purpose was to protect against spoilers and disclosure of A24’s intellectual property, and it did not require Hansen to surrender rights to his name, image or brand.
‘Primetime’ Uses Hansen’s Name but Was Made Without His Participation
Pattinson plays Hansen in the Lance Oppenheim-directed drama, which returns to 2006 and the period when To Catch a Predator had become a television phenomenon. A24’s official synopsis is deliberately brief: “In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history.”
Ajon Singh wrote the screenplay, and the film is based in part on Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die.” That story examined the controversial Texas sting involving assistant district attorney Bill Conradt, who died by suicide as police and an NBC camera crew arrived at his home.
Hansen did not serve as a consultant on the film and had no say in Pattinson’s casting. He previously told Serialously With Annie Elise that he had once developed his own idea for dramatizing the To Catch a Predator story and had imagined Denis Leary playing him. Pattinson is also one of the film’s producers. The cast includes Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher and Bokeem Woodbine, while Primetime marks Oppenheim’s narrative feature directorial debut.
Hansen Bought Ads to Run Before ‘Primetime’ Screenings
Whatever Hansen ultimately thinks of the film, he has already found a way to use the attention around it. He purchased theatrical advertising for TruBlu, his true-crime streaming network, to run before screenings of Primetime.
The commercial puts Hansen back in a familiar setting. Standing in a kitchen, he tells moviegoers, “I’m going to need everyone in the theater to take a seat right over there,” before promoting TruBlu and his continuing investigative work, including Takedown With Chris Hansen.
According to reporting on the campaign, an earlier version of the spot would have told audiences they were about to watch “a Hollywood fantasy version” of the real events. That line was removed before the commercial was finalized because of concern about possible pushback from A24.
Primetime is competing at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, where its official public premiere is scheduled for Sept. 5. A24 will release the film in U.S. theaters on Sept. 25.