Why Robert Pattinson's Primetime Ending Covers Most Controversial Chris Hansen Event (Exclusive)

Published Sep 26, 2026, 1:18 PM EDT Warning: This article contains spoilers for Primetime. EXCLUSIVE: Primetime tackles one of To Catch a Predator's darkest moments. The new A24 thriller stars Robert Pattinson as a fictionalized version of Chris Hansen in 2006, as To Catch a Predator grows into a television phenomenon. While Primetime takes plenty of creative freedom with the real story, its third act takes on the real-life death of Texas assistant district attorney Bill Conradt during a controversial sting operation. In an interview with ScreenRant's Liam Crowley, Oppenheim explained why leaving the incident out was never really an option. The director remembered being "haunted" by the episode when he first saw it as a child. "I think it's almost impossible to think about the show without thinking about what happened in Murphy, Texas, with Bill Conrad. As a child, when I saw that episode, I was haunted by it. I was disturbed by it. And I was curious about how it happened and all the different factors and things that went into motion that led to the results of what went down there." The real incident came during a four-day To Catch a Predator sting based in Murphy, Texas, which resulted in 25 arrests. Conradt had communicated online with someone he believed was a 13-year-old boy, but unlike the show's usual targets, he never arrived at the sting house. Police instead went to his home, where Conradt died by suicide as authorities and an NBC camera crew arrived. The Collin County district attorney's office later declined to prosecute any cases from the operation. That makes the incident much more than a shocking moment for Primetime to recreate. Oppenheim compared the movie to Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole, which follows a journalist who turns another person's crisis into a bigger story, only for that pursuit to have devastating consequences. For Primetime, Oppenheim was less interested in objectively recreating Conradt's death than exploring what happened to the people behind the cameras afterward. "I wanted to see how it affected Chris Hansen, how it affected his producer in the movie, Andie, and how it affected Decoy Dan. I love this idea of observing that moment, the suicide specifically, and how it haunted and lingered on the lives of the people who make the show, who sort of consider themselves both journalists and entertainers." Although that was Oppenheim's intention, Hansen still wasn't a fan of how Primetime told his story. Even when the trailer first came out, Hansen had mixed reactions to Pattinson's portrayal of him. After finally watching the movie for the first time following its September 25 release, Hansen posted a short clip from his podcast on X, calling it "bizarre" and said Pattinson's character felt detached from his actual experiences making the investigations. Hansen has also disputed several events depicted in Primetime and criticized Oppenheim for not going to him or people who worked closely with him. Oppenheim, however, is making an important distinction with his comments to ScreenRant by saying that his goal wasn't to objectively document what happened. Instead, Primetime's ending with Conradt's death becomes the point where the movie's questions about journalism, entertainment, and the consequences of chasing a bigger story all collide. For Oppenheim, leaving it out would have meant leaving out the very event that best explains what his movie is trying to explore. Despite Hansen's criticism, Primetime has been well received since its release. The movie currently holds an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Primetime is now playing in theaters. Primetime Release Date September 25, 2026 Runtime 110 minutes Director Lance Oppenheim Writers Ajon Singh Producers Ari Aster, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Brighton McCloskey, Fred Berger, Lars Knudsen, Robert Pattinson, William Iannaccone Cast