Chris Hansen finally took a seat for “Primetime,” and he was not happy about the portrayal of himself.
The former “To Catch a Predator” host said on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” in August that he left the offices of distributor A24 without seeing the film due to the legal agreement they wanted him to sign. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” he said of the agreement. He also said he found Robert Pattinson’s impression “overly dramatic,” but that his family thought it was a “pretty good imitation.”
Following a screening of Lance Oppenheim’s drama, Hansen has now shared his reactions to the full film in a 20-minute-long YouTube video posted to his channel, “Have A Seat With Chris Hansen,” on Friday.
“It was so bizarre and so in-and-out of reality,” Hansen said. “Obviously, I’m not objective because the character is, you know, me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I’ve experienced then or now doing the investigations. I’m not sure what the point of it was.”
The former host went on to criticize Pattinson’s performance, saying that “this version of Chris Hansen” was “so detached, so unhinged, so dark, so unlikeable… I mean, it’s upset my colleagues, current and former.” Hansen explained that he had about 13 members of his former crew see the film, and while some felt that the “film work was good” in terms of the story, they “got bored after the first 30 minutes.”
Hansen also called out Oppenheim for having a “dark image of what he wanted to do,” regardless of whether it had really happened in that way, in the host’s opinion. “He wanted to create a horror-like film with interesting photography and didn’t want to hear anything else,” he said. “[He] didn’t want to have his mind polluted by anything positive that this actually achieved over the last 22 years.”
He continued: “Hollywood wants to demonize the guy doing what I think is very good work that has created a dialogue that didn’t exist before and an awareness that didn’t exist before. And yet they turn him into the bad guy. And so you have to question the motives of not coming forward and talking to me or anybody who I worked closely with over the years. And they didn’t want to hear that Chris Hansen is a good guy. They didn’t want to hear that this work is important.”
He went on to say there was not one thing he liked about the film. When asked if there were any scenes that he saw that he knew didn’t happen, he responded, “almost every one of them.” “In a way, it’s a hit piece on me and the series, which is weird,” he said.
The film stars Pattinson as Hansen in 2006 as “To Catch a Predator” transitioned from “Dateline NBC” to its own primetime block. A24 labeled the film as “inspired by true events,” rather than a biopic.
Pattinson himself hoped Hansen would come around on the portrayal. “I would hope the amount of inspiration his character has given a lot of people for years is some kind of compliment,” the actor said following Hansen’s comments on his imitation.
“Primetime” opened in theaters on Friday after making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it garnered buzz and a seven-minute ovation. It took second place at the box office with $8.49 million domestically.