Robert Pattinson Brings ‘To Catch a Predator’ to Life in New Film ‘Primetime’ – WTOP News
- Lance Oppenheim's narrative feature debut, Primetime, opens in theaters on Thursday, September 25, examining Chris Hansen 20 years after NBC's "To Catch a Predator" reshaped true crime television.
- The film dramatizes Hansen as a meme-like figure, exploring the network's decision to move "To Catch a Predator" to prime time against ABC's "Lost," forcing the show to escalate toward sensationalist imagery and puerile content.
- Robert Pattinson portrays Hansen with a mix of hungry charm and vampire-like intensity, while Skyler Gisondo plays Decoy Dan and Merritt Weaver delivers pitch-perfect work as producer Andie, the operation's unappreciated backbone.
- Oppenheim and cinematographer David Bolen leverage their documentary roots to craft a visually distinctive style, drawing inspiration from Nathan Fielder and films like "Nightcrawler" to blend technical accuracy with dramatic staging.
- Functioning as a darkly comic interrogation of journalism and exploitation, Primetime implicates viewers in the long shadow cast by the original show over true crime culture and influencer vigilantism.
81 Articles
81 Articles
<em>Primetime</em>: An Actor Prepares
I think I have it now. Robert Pattinson wasn’t made to play heroes, even though he gets cast that way because of how he looks. He’s much better when he’s playing guys who are weak (The Drama), crazy (The Lighthouse), overconfident (The King), obsessive (Damsel), or just stupid (Mickey 17). Male fragility is precisely where […]
The Toronto Star
My Mother LodeMovie Review: In ‘Primetime,’ a sinister shift in media, with a dazzling Robert Pattinson
Buzzing with the sound of dial-up internet and the hum of grainy VHS tape, Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime,” about Chris Hansen and his Dateline NBC series “To Catch a Predator,” identifies a seedy moment when media became the new arbiter of…
Daily Journal
Movie Review: In 'Primetime,' a sinister shift in media, with a dazzling Robert Pattinson
Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime” is about Chris Hansen and his Dateline NBC series “To Catch a Predator.” Buzzing with the sound of dial-up internet and the hum of grainy VHS tape, it identifies a seedy moment when media became the new…
The Derrick
Los Angeles TimesReview: Even the film grain feels filthy in Robert Pattinson's skin-crawling 'Primetime'
Lance Oppenheim's "Primetime" starts grimy and sinks lower. A pedophile is on his knees in a suburban house, begging for mercy on a tacky peach carpet. His inquisitor, "Dateline NBC" reporter Chris Hansen (a feverish Robert Pattinson), looms above him…
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