Chris Hansen, the longtime face of To Catch a Predator, is addressing the forthcoming film inspired by his years fronting the headline-making NBC series.
The movie, titled Primetime, features Robert Pattinson as a broadcast journalist who confronts adults accused of pursuing sexual crimes during carefully organized sting operations.
To Catch a Predator originally aired as a Dateline NBC segment from 2004 to 2007, produced in coordination with local police agencies and the online watchdog organization Perverted Justice.
Hansen, 66, said Monday during an appearance on the podcast Serialously With Annie Elise that he has not yet been shown an advance screening of the Lance Oppenheim-directed film, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters next month.
“You know, what’s Hollywood’s motive here? We don’t know, but I’ll find out,” Hansen said, suggesting he is still waiting to see how the story is handled on screen.
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for A24, the film’s distributor, seeking comment, but has not yet received a response.
Chris Hansen, host of To Catch a Predator, is weighing in on the upcoming film about his time leading the controversial NBC Dateline segment, which aired from 2004 to 2007
Although To Catch a Predator became a major ratings draw, it also faced mounting criticism over legal and ethical concerns, scrutiny that eventually contributed to its cancellation in 2008.
When suspected predators would arrive at a home, they would be greeted by NBC cameras and Hansen, who would try to interview them prior to their arrests by police, often reading back graphic passages from the chats.
In November 2006, a Texas assistant district attorney named Bill Conradt took his own life after police entered his home to arrest him while Hansen and his crew waited outside.
On the podcast, Hansen said he’s only seen the preview for the motion picture, which ‘looks very dramatic’ but is scheduled to attend a private screening of it next week.
‘Until I see the full movie, you know, I as a reporter, it’s sort of silly for me to talk about something that I haven’t seen yet – so I’m going to see it,’ Hansen said. ‘Then I’ll be able to tell you whether I like it or don’t like it, and how dramatized it is.’
He said he did not have a hand in the production of the film but people involved with it reached out to him after it had finished shooting.
‘We had heard, you know, obviously, with all the different properties I have and all the platforms, some of the people who are involved in the management also tangentially have relationships in the Hollywood world,’ Hansen said. ‘So we had heard that this was in the works a couple months ago.
READ MORE: Inside Oprah and Stedman Graham’s Decades-Long Private Romance
‘They came out and said, “Hey, look, we’re doing this. We’d like you to have some sort of, you know, consideration in terms of helping us with this.”‘
Hansen said of Pattinson playing him, ‘Obviously they want a commercial endeavor to succeed and they think this is the way it’s going to succeed’
Hansen appeared Monday on the podcast Serialously With Annie Elise, saying he hasn’t yet seen the motion picture, which appeared to depict him as ratings-driven in a preview released earlier this month
To Catch a Predator was a segment that aired on the program Dateline NBC between 2004-2007, as Hansen worked in coordinated sting operations with local law enforcement and the watchdog group Perverted Justice
Hansen said he hasn’t been focused on the film as he continues with his own endeavors: ‘I’ve been busy being the real Chris Hansen, so I don’t have a lot of time to focus on the fake Chris Hansen.’
He said that he suspected filmmakers used his name ‘because it helps in a commercial enterprise.’
Hansen said of Pattinson playing him, ‘Obviously they want a commercial endeavor to succeed, and they think this is the way it’s going to succeed – you know, I didn’t get to choose my own guy.’
He said that he ‘had discussions years ago about’ a potential film on the NBC series, and ‘thought Dennis Leary would be a good guy’ to play him in a silver screen adaptation.
Primetime, which also features Anna Faris, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers and Tony Revolori, is due in theaters on September 25.
