A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Director Lance Oppenheim says he was just a kid when the NBC "Dateline" reality news television segment "To Catch A Predator" first aired in the early 2000s. But he actually discovered the show through parodies online, particularly those of the show's host, Chris Hansen.
LANCE OPPENHEIM: There were so many interesting spoofs of Chris Hansen and culture around 2007, 2008. And when I finally saw the show, I was sort of amazed by how spot on a lot of these parodies, you know, got him right. There was this almost mythological aspect to him, this superhuman ability to corner these, you know, potential predators in a house, in this kind of manufactured reality he would create.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TO CATCH A PREDATOR")
CHRIS HANSEN: You want to explain yourself? Grab that towel right there, please. Wrap it around yourself and please sit in that stool. What are you doing?
OPPENHEIM: And he would essentially have the power to get these guys to sit down and listen to him.
MARTÍNEZ: Oppenheim stayed fascinated with Hansen into adulthood, so much so that his wife bought him a Cameo greeting video from Chris Hansen for his birthday. Watching it, Oppenheim said something struck him.
OPPENHEIM: There was something so strange to me that he had almost adopted this hyper-performative version of himself. It's almost as if he had seen all the memes. And this kind of tension started to form for me, and I really wanted to explore that. And to me, it felt like I could actually glean maybe the most revealing or honest depiction of Chris Hansen as the Chris Hansen that he wants out in the world through these videos.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Hansen is the main character of Oppenheim's very first feature film, "Primetime."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PRIMETIME")
ROBERT PATTINSON: (As Chris Hansen) Do you watch television?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Yes.
PATTINSON: (As Chris Hansen) Well, there's something you should know. I'm Chris Hansen, with "Dateline NBC." And we're doing a story on adults who try to meet teens online.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Please don't put this on TV, please.
MARTÍNEZ: Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen, who turned a controversial show about adult men soliciting sex with minors into a ratings powerhouse. I asked director Lance Oppenheim what he was trying to say about Hansen and his creation.
OPPENHEIM: I think what the show did, he took something that had been kind of ingrained in human society for thousands of years, this concept of performative justice - the whipping post, the pillory, the town whipper that would show up and publicly lash a criminal and thousands of people in the town square would turn up to watch. Chris Hansen is the new version of that guy. And I liked this idea that when you turn up the volume on the performative part of it...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
OPPENHEIM: ...There's almost a curse that is put onto you. And I mean it more so for the spirit, that every time Chris Hansen would catch one of these guys, it would sort of corrupt something inside of him. It would challenge him in some sort of metaphysical, spiritual way. And so I like that there was a spiritual register that the film could enter into, that what he's doing is actually a very ancient tradition.
MARTÍNEZ: Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen. And, Lance, he nailed the voice, the tone, the mannerism.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PRIMETIME")
PATTINSON: (As Chris Hansen) Big night planned?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Who are you?
PATTINSON: (As Chris Hansen) Why don't you have a seat right there.
MARTÍNEZ: The thing is, though, this shoot for the film lasted, what, a little under two months? So he had to have hit the set running because he's also filming "The Drama," "The Odyssey," and then wrapped around you and "Primetime," "Dune." So, I mean, how did Robert Pattinson get that up to speed that quick?
OPPENHEIM: Well, the truth is, is throughout the many, many productions he did, he had been working on this character. But, you know, one of the things that was amazing about this project is it came from Rob. I met Rob about a different project in 2024. And I showed him that Cameo that I was telling you about. And he had discovered who Chris Hansen was when - I think he had just finished shooting "Twilight" in 2008. And he had discovered him, similar to me, through memes.
Cut to another, you know, two or three weeks after that, I was at his birthday party. I go there. I see his producing partner, Brighton McCloskey. And she comes up to me and she says, you're never going to believe this. But this amazing, mysterious script came our way. It's been floating around Hollywood for a little bit. No one has wanted to make it. We read it. We think it's really interesting. You should read it. I said, well, what is it? She showed me the cover page. It said, "To Catch A Predator." I sprinted to my car, I read it in one sitting, and I chased this project down.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
OPPENHEIM: And part of the chasing was really convincing Rob to star as Chris Hansen. I kept saying to him, you know this character. You've had experiences becoming an overnight celebrity. Over time, I wore him down. I brought Four Lokos to his house.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
OPPENHEIM: I brought gummies.
MARTÍNEZ: Wait, wait. What did you bring?
OPPENHEIM: I brought Four Lokos, you know, one of the classic items that a predator would bring, yes.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, like a hard malt liquor. Yeah. And gummies, too?
OPPENHEIM: Gummies as well, yeah, the Trollo gummies. And, you know, I think he was confused by that. We had such a great time just really, like, treating this as a proper collaboration.
MARTÍNEZ: The real-life Chris Hansen has called your film a complete work of fiction and an insult, among other things. Have you heard from Chris Hansen?
OPPENHEIM: You know, Chris hasn't seen the film yet. And I'm very eager for him to see it because I think there's a misconception that is going around that this film is villainizing him or something along that nature. You know, this is not the intention. And this is not the reason that anyone in the film, including myself, got involved in it. I was interested in mythologizing Chris Hansen, creating a portrait of him that felt very similar to the idea of him in my head as a child and almost creating a form of a superhero film. I like watching somebody who is dealing with a lot of problems, a lot of challenges, and still attempts to kind of deal with things in a way that he's attempting to be a better person.
MARTÍNEZ: You know, Lance, I knew someone who was a federal agent who worked on child pornography cases. And he told me that after a few years of doing that job, that something inside of him died. And he almost wishes that he never had done that job despite doing some good by actually making some arrests and getting some convictions. You think anyone from that show, "To Catch A Predator," has come out of it hole?
OPPENHEIM: It's a good question. And I would say that most of the people I've spoken with who worked on the program were affected by it in some way, you know, that they're still dealing with. And I found one of the things so interesting about Chris Hansen - Rob and I were listening to one of his interviews. He had done a podcast with Theo Von. And Theo Von had asked him, you know, how do you deal with the darkness that you've experienced on the job? And he said, I just bury it way down there - I don't have a therapist. And I thought that was so fascinating that he - you know, that somewhere in him, there is a part of him that maybe has been affected but he does not show it to the outside world.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Lance Oppenheim, the director of "Primetime." Lance, thanks a lot.
OPPENHEIM: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE WISDOM OF HARRY'S "DISCO")
MARTÍNEZ: We reached out to Chris Hansen for comment on the movie and the way it portrays him. He has not responded to our request.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE WISDOM OF HARRY'S "DISCO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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