Home · Entertainment · Sep 25 archive
Chris Hansen's 'To Catch a Predator' Gets Dramatized in New Film 'Primetime
Confirmed
In Short: The new film 'Primetime' dramatizes the controversial TV show 'To Catch a Predator,' hosted by Chris Hansen, which ran from 2004 to 2007 on Dateline NBC.
Hansen's show, which featured decoys posing as minors to lure suspected pedophiles into traps, became a pop culture phenomenon and turned Hansen into a star.
According to SlashFilm, the film portrays Hansen as megalomaniacal and obsessed with ratings, while also highlighting the moral quandaries raised by the show.
The film, directed by Lance Oppenheim, stars Robert Pattinson as Hansen and dramatizes the show's origins and impact.
In the film, Hansen and his team, including producer Andie (played by Merritt Wever), strive to turn 'To Catch a Predator' into an unstoppable force that can beat hit TV show 'Lost' in the ratings.
The film also follows Dan Plumb (played by Skyler Gisondo), an actor hired to be a decoy on the show, who grows uneasy about his involvement as the story progresses.
Hansen has consistently said the show had simply run its course, but he told Entertainment Tonight that the film is 'totally made up,' though he acknowledged that nobody consulted him.
The film's second half revolves around Tony Revolori's character, Bill Conradt, a Texas assistant district attorney who allegedly solicited sex with a minor and killed himself after the Predator team tried to expose him.
Hansen, who was not involved in the making of the film, told the Los Angeles Times that he left a screening at A24's Manhattan office rather than sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Despite Hansen's absence, the film has been praised for its portrayal of the twisted reality of the show and its impact on the discourse around pedophilia.
The film's director, Lance Oppenheim, has stated that the film is a surreal nightmare fever dream, a 'media collage' that is 'inspired by true events.
What this adds
The film's portrayal of Hansen and the show raises questions about the ethical implications of such stings and the impact on both the suspects and the public.
The structural problem of a news division paying its own sources per sting is highlighted as a key issue in the film.
What's confirmed
- Hansen's show, which featured decoys posing as minors to lure suspected pedophiles into traps, became a pop culture phenomenon and turned Hansen into a star.
- According to SlashFilm, the film portrays Hansen as megalomaniacal and obsessed with ratings, while also highlighting the moral quandaries raised by the show.
- The film, directed by Lance Oppenheim, stars Robert Pattinson as Hansen and dramatizes the show's origins and impact.
- In the film, Hansen and his team, including producer Andie (played by Merritt Wever), strive to turn 'To Catch a Predator' into an unstoppable force that can beat hit TV show 'Lost' in the ratings.
- The film also follows Dan Plumb (played by Skyler Gisondo), an actor hired to be a decoy on the show, who grows uneasy about his involvement as the story progresses.
- Hansen has consistently said the show had simply run its course, but he told Entertainment Tonight that the film is 'totally made up,' though he acknowledged that nobody consulted him.
- The film's second half revolves around Tony Revolori's character, Bill Conradt, a Texas assistant district attorney who allegedly solicited sex with a minor and killed himself after the Predator team tried to expose him.
- Hansen, who was not involved in the making of the film, told the Los Angeles Times that he left a screening at A24's Manhattan office rather than sign a nondisclosure agreement.
- Despite Hansen's absence, the film has been praised for its portrayal of the twisted reality of the show and its impact on the discourse around pedophilia.
- The film's director, Lance Oppenheim, has stated that the film is a surreal nightmare fever dream, a 'media collage' that is 'inspired by true events.
What's still developing
- The real ‘To Catch a Predator’ history, the 2006 Texas sting, and the lawsuit that ended it all.
- To Catch a Predator ran as a Dateline NBC segment from November 2004 through December 2007, producing 20 episodes out of 12 sting operations.
- Decoys posing as minors drew men to a rented house, the men walked in expecting a teenager, and Hansen walked out from behind a wall with a transcript in his hand.
- A news division paying its own sources per sting is the structural problem underneath everything that followed, and it is the detail the Primetime true story turns on.
- The focus of the film is Hansen, played with manic energy by Robert Pattinson, who has been turning out a string of great films lately.
- Suspected pedophiles would be lured to a location by decoys posing as minors, and Hansen would appear and question these suspects — who would then be arrested by local law enforcement when they left the house.
- However, as the story progresses, Dan begins to grow uneasy about his involvement with "To Catch a Predator." Also working on the show is Xavier Von Erck (Matthew Maher), founder of Perverted-Justice, an organization that strove to catch pedophiles and that teamed with "To Catch a Predator" to help lure suspects in.
- Hansen sees this as the ultimate get, a "whale" that will send "To Catch a Predator" into the stratosphere.
- Desperate and spiraling out because his own infidelities are about to be published in a tabloid magazine, Hansen instructs Xavier, with the assistance of decoy Dan, to lure the whale in.
- More than two decades after To Catch a Predator debuted, a new generation is taking a seat—and learning just how twisted the reality series targeting alleged pedophiles really was.
- After Primetime debuted at the Venice Film Festival, Hansen told The Hollywood Reporter that he decided not to attend an early screening of the feature.
- As Primetime shows, To Catch a Predator began in 2004 as a Dateline NBC segment.