Robert Pattinson’s next A24 movie is built around one of the most uncomfortable TV formats of the 2000s.
The first teaser for Primetime shows Pattinson playing Chris Hansen, the journalist and host closely tied to NBC’s Dateline segment To Catch a Predator. The A24 crime drama is set in 2006 and follows Hansen as he tries to make television history.
The teaser does not play the material like simple nostalgia or a straight impersonation. It points toward a darker story about hidden cameras, televised confrontation, media ethics, and the moment when crime reporting became appointment viewing.
The Trailer Puts Pattinson Inside a TV Sting Operation
The teaser leans into the familiar machinery of To Catch a Predator: a sting house, hidden cameras, nervous arrivals, and Hansen stepping into the room once the setup is already in motion.
Entertainment Weekly reported that the trailer includes Pattinson delivering the line, “I’m Chris Hansen, with Dateline NBC, and you’re about to be a part of television history.”
That line gives the teaser its sharpest hook. Primetime is not just using Hansen as a recognizable TV figure. It is looking at the point where journalism, law enforcement, ratings, and public humiliation all started occupying the same room.
Lance Oppenheim Makes His Narrative Feature Debut
Ren Faire filmmaker Lance Oppenheim directs Primetime, which marks his first scripted narrative feature.
That background fits the material. Oppenheim’s documentary work has often focused on people performing inside strange, highly controlled American worlds. With Primetime, he appears to be bringing that interest into a scripted story about television production, criminal investigation, and the pressure to turn real events into a show.
The Playlist reported that A24’s logline reads: “In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history.”
Primetime Surrounds Pattinson With a Bigger Ensemble
Pattinson leads the film, with Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, and Phoebe Bridgers also appearing.
Pitchfork reported that Primetime marks Bridgers’ acting debut, though she previously appeared as herself in Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow.
The teaser does not reveal much about Bridgers’ role. For now, her casting adds another curiosity point to a movie already built around Pattinson playing one of reality-driven television’s most recognizable faces.
The Movie Revisits a Controversial TV Format
To Catch a Predator aired as part of Dateline NBC in the mid-2000s and became known for televised sting operations involving adults who believed they were meeting underage teens. Hansen’s confrontations became the show’s signature moment, turning criminal allegations into heavily watched TV scenes.
The format made the segment famous, but it also drew criticism over journalism ethics, police cooperation, public exposure, and the role of entertainment in criminal investigations.
EW noted that Primetime also appears to point toward the scrutiny that followed a 2006 sting connected to the death of Bill Conradt. That history gives the film a heavier frame than a simple story about Hansen’s rise on television.
Pattinson Keeps Choosing Stranger Star Vehicles
Primetime fits the stranger side of Pattinson’s post-franchise career. After Twilight, he moved steadily toward offbeat directors and unsettling material, including Good Time, The Lighthouse, High Life, and The Batman.
This role gives him another controlled, uneasy figure to play. Hansen’s public image came from calm authority, camera timing, and the ability to make a confrontation feel inevitable. The teaser suggests Primetime is less interested in copying those moments than in asking what television wanted from them.
A24 Has Not Announced an Exact U.S. Release Date
A24 is expected to release Primetime theatrically this fall, though the trailer coverage has not confirmed an exact U.S. release date.
The teaser gives the movie enough shape to sell the central idea without spelling out the full dramatic arc. Pattinson is playing Chris Hansen, but the stronger hook is the world around him: cameras waiting behind walls, producers chasing a historic TV moment, and a format that turned exposure into entertainment.