Robert Pattinson stars as Chris Hansen in first trailer for “To Catch a Predator” film “Primetime”

Key Points

• Robert Pattinson stars in the first teaser for Primetime.

• The Batman actor plays To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen.

• Phoebe Bridgers is set to make her film debut in the A24 project.

Robert Pattinson is ready to make “television history” on the big screen.

After much speculation, the first trailer for A24’s Primetime confirmed that the Batman star is playing journalist Chris Hansen in the crime drama about the lightning-rod program To Catch a Predator.

When the Lance Oppenheim–directed film was announced, it was said to be inspired by the 2000s reality series, and paparazzi photos of Pattinson appeared very much like a Hansen portrayal, but Wednesday’s tense and moody debut look officially peeled back the curtain.

“What would have happened if I wasn’t here,” Pattinson can be heard saying. “You see how this looks, right? At the end of the day, a man must be held accountable for the decisions that he makes, would you agree? Do you watch television? Well, there is something you should know. I’m Chris Hansen, with Dateline NBC, and you’re about to be a part of television history.”

Premiering in Nov. 2004, To Catch a Predator featured Hansen confronting men who showed up to a house believing they were meeting an underage boy or girl. This was part of a sting operation in which the adults engaged in sexually explicit conversations with actors and members of law enforcement posing as minors. Dozens were arrested via the show.

To Catch a Predator became a bit of a pop culture phenomenon, but then things took a deadly turn shortly before the series was canceled. In 2006, actor Dan Schrack attempted to lure lawyer Bill Conradt to a house in Murphy, Texas via a phone call, but Conradt never arrived. The TV crew and police were then dispatched to and surrounded Conradt’s home in Terrell, Tex., and as SWAT entered, he shot himself in the head, dying soon thereafter.

‘Primetime’ poster
Credit: A24

“They went over there and did that at that house because it would do something for the show, not something for society, not something in the interest of law enforcement,” Walt Weiss, a former detective involved in the sting, said in the recent documentary Predators. “And the role that I played in it, that’s a stain on my soul that I’m gonna live with.”

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Opening this fall in theaters, Primetime also stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, and Phoebe Bridgers, who is making her film debut.

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