Chris Hansen Gives His Unfiltered Take on Robert Pattinson’s ‘Primetime’: ‘Absolutely a Fictional Portrayal’

Chris Hansen has finally seen “Primetime,” and, unsurprisingly, he has some thoughts. “At the end of the day, I wasn’t blown away by it either way,” Hansen said in a video shot outside the theater. “It’s a movie, and I’ll continue to do the work I do, and people can watch this movie and make up their own minds.” Hansen sat down with Fox News’ Jesse Watters on his podcast “Have a Seat with Chris Hansen” to share his live reaction to the film one day after seeing it. The former “To Catch a Predator” host watched the film in a crowded theater in Times Square, talking to moviegoers after the experience. “Most of them said that it was over the top, and a lot of the people, you know, with whom we spoke last night after we watched the film were also fans of TruBlu and ‘Takedown,’ the current series, so they know what I do,” Hansen said. Hansen has been in the news the past few months reacting to trailers for “Primetime,” Lance Oppenheim’s dramatic thriller about “To Catch a Predator” starring Robert Pattinson as the former “Dateline NBC” journalist. Though the film, written by Ajon Singh, is based on Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire article “Tonight on ‘Dateline’ This Man Will Die,” it takes great creative liberties with Hansen’s history, telling a fictionalized story about the mid-oughts media landscape. When asked by Watters to grade Pattinson’s performance, Hansen gave it a D. “Tough grade,” Watters said. “He’s got some work to do.” “But I’m kind of the only guy that counts in this room,” Hansen replied. You can watch the full video below. Despite calling Pattinson a “talented actor” who has been “very gracious” in his comments about Hansen, the personality again questioned why his name, image and likeness needed to be used to portray the story Oppenheim wanted to tell in the first place. In a particularly critical moment, when Watters asked why the film made him out to be “this crazy guy,” Hansen drew a connection between the “Primetime” director and Harvey Weinstein. “(Hollywood) was an industry led by one of the most prolific predators led by one of the most prolific predators to walk the planet, Harvey Weinstein,” Hansen said. “So what do you expect from it?” “That’s a good point,” Watters said. “There is an agenda there perhaps.” “Maybe we should look at Lance Oppenheim’s transcripts,” Hansen responded. (In “To Catch a Predator,” Hansen produces transcripts of chat logs detailing predators’ sexual comments towards minors.) Throughout the interview, Hansen repeatedly said that most of “Primetime” was fictional, based only loosely on the show he took part in. While he acknowledged that some incidents, like the death by suicide of assistant district attorney Bill Conradt during one of the show’s operations, truly happened, even this, Hansen said, was heavily dramatized. “Was there a part of the movie that you saw and you said, ‘Alright. That looked good. I liked the way they covered that?’” Watters asked. “Not really,” Hansen responded. “Nothing?” Watters questioned. “You didn’t like anything that was featured about you in the film?” “No, the only thing I liked was the commercial about TruBlu that airs right before the film,” Hansen said. “Let me tell you something: In all honesty, what bothered me most was it portrayed me as an aloof, detached father to my sons, which was so far from reality, and for them to do that really is just a cheap shot with no entertainment, literary or benefit to any viewer or society. It’s just mean-spirited, untrue and unworthy of the viewer’s time.” “You never woke your children up in the middle of the night to brag about the show?” Watters asked. “No, my kids are in the business now,” Hansen said. “That’s how close we were and are today.” Hansen took to social media on Thursday to share that he attended an opening night screening of “Primetime” and intended to comment on his podcast and YouTube on Friday afternoon. On YouTube, Hansen shared a photo of himself mimicking Pattinson’s iconic tracksuit meme, saying, “Two can play at that game,” to tease his upcoming reaction. In August, Hansen claimed that A24 blocked him from seeing the film early unless he would “sign away my rights to my name, image and brand, essentially,” as he told Jesse Watters, in an NDA sent prior to the screening. A source with knowledge told TheWrap that Hansen was asked to sign a standard NDA a week in advance, which all preview audiences are required to sign to watch an unreleased film. TheWrap has come to understand that this NDA was meant to prevent spoilers and protect the studio’s IP, and that Hansen was not asked to “sign away” the rights to his name, image and brand. Hansen commented a few times on “Primetime” leading up to its release, with the film generating buzz after a series of trailers portrayed Pattinson’s take on the journalist in an ominous, rather villainous light. The “To Catch a Predator” host previously stated that he wouldn’t rule out whether or not he intended to take legal action against the film until he saw it himself. Now, however, Hansen said that while several lawyers “are eager to do something, I’m not sure that I’m eager to do something.” “You can go see it and make up your own mind, and I’ll use it to my benefit for all the great projects and things that we have in the works,” he added. Hansen then mentioned a documentary he cooperated with, produced by people he knows, called “I’m Chris Hansen” that is currently being shopped around. “It’s pretty good timing,” he admitted.