Primetime (film)

In the mid-2000s, Chris Hansen sets out to make television history as the host of To Catch a Predator, in which he investigates and interviews online child sex predators caught using sting operations. The show proves immensely successful at first, although a botched sting in Murphy, Texas, sets in motion the events that lead to its downfall.

Robert Pattinson (left; pictured in 2025) plays Chris Hansen (right; pictured in 2021)

• Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, a television journalist for NBC and host of To Catch a Predator^[12]
  • Pattinson initially joined Primetime only as a producer, before agreeing to star in the film's lead role, having to prep the film while also filming for Die My Love and The Drama as well as having to separately prepare for another role in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.^[13][14] Pattinson said he first became familiar with To Catch a Predator while staying in the United States as he starred in the Twilight films.^[13] He called the process of imitating Hansen's voice "incredibly difficult" and studied his appearances on podcasts, recounting how he would "wander around the streets saying what he’s talking about" and confuse bystanders due to the dark nature of Hansen's work.^[14]
• Merritt Wever as Andie Bender, Chris' producer at Dateline NBC^[15]
• Skyler Gisondo as Dan Plum, a young aspiring actor hired for the show's sting operations^[16]
  • Gisondo's role as a young aspiring actor hired to play a decoy on Hansen's show was based on Dan Schrack, the decoy for the botched sting operation involving Bill Conradt.^[13][17] Gisondo compared his own starstruck attitude towards acting alongside Pattinson to Dan's admiration of Hansen, remarking on how his "own personal nervousness bled into it".^[15]
• Phoebe Bridgers as Del, a young decoy who plays both boys and girls on the show^[15]
  • Bridgers had already known Oppenheim prior to production of Primetime and was personally sought out by him due to Oppenheim believing someone "who had such a deep speaking voice [that] could produce this beautiful, angelic singing voice" was a perfect casting choice for the role of a decoy.^[13]
• Matthew Maher^[16] as Xavier Von Erck, an online vigilante and the owner of Perverted Justice
• Bokeem Woodbine^[18] as Cortland Gunn ^{[citation needed]}
• Anna Faris as Mary Joan Hansen, Chris' wife^[16]
• Jonathan Lipnicki^[18] as a child predator caught on the show
• Tony Revolori as a child predator caught on the show^[18]
• Alex Winter^[19] as Bill Conradt, the assistant district attorney of Rockwall County, Texas and the show's latest target
• Eric Rahill^{[citation needed]}
• Sean Bridgers^[18]
• Jeff Zucker as himself^[16]
  • Zucker oversaw programming for NBCUniversal in real life at the time To Catch a Predator aired and plays a "boorish version of himself" in Primetime who acts as "the driver of tasking Chris Hansen and his team to think of the show as a commercial object".^[13] Oppenheim was interested in casting Zucker, saying he "loved the idea, keeping with the project of making this a true fever dream, of having real people alongside actors" and was pleasantly surprised when Zucker agreed to take part in the film.^[13]
• Creed Bratton^[16]
• Caroline Ebert as Krysten, Chris' mistress^[20]
• Jessica Hecht as an opportunistic ABC executive looking to poach Andie^[20]

In October 2024, it was announced that Lance Oppenheim would make his feature film debut with a script by Ajon Singh, with A24 financing and distributing and Robert Pattinson and Ari Aster producing; Pattinson was also rumored to star as the film's lead, but went unconfirmed.^[21] The project's plot was given as "a journalist who takes on an underworld of crime and changes television forever", with speculation that it was based on Chris Hansen's show To Catch a Predator.^[21][22] The film's connection to Hansen and To Catch a Predator was revealed in May 2026, when A24 released the film's teaser trailer and first poster with Pattinson playing Hansen. The film's accompanying logline said the film was set in 2006, which some publications recognized as the year Bill Conradt committed suicide, which contributed to the show's cancellation.^[23][24]

Oppenheim first played with the idea of Hansen having adopted a "strange, performative version of himself" after his wife hired Hansen to film a Cameo video for him to congratulate Oppenheim on having just recently released his 2024 documentary film Spermworld, before Hansen began pitching ideas to him within the video itself. Oppenheim retrospectively called Primetime an "adaptation" of that video.^[13] He also said that just as his documentary films Some Kind of Heaven and Ren Faire explore themes of power in The Villages and Renaissance fairs, respectively, Primetime would explore power dynamics in the realm of broadcast television:^[25]

I think, thematically, a lot of the ideas of power, and how power is obtained, and how power is maintained, and what happens when you have it, and what happens when you don't have it—I think these are kind of constant. They're perennially fascinating subjects, but I think I like looking at that lens and kind of applying it to—whether it's the Renaissance Fair or The Villages or broadcast television with the film I just made—I think there's a lot of overlap with a lot of the subjects.^[25]

Singh adapted the film's screenplay from the 2007 Esquire article "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die" by Luke Dittrich, which details the circumstances behind Conradt's suicide and the botched To Catch a Predator sting operation that attempted to confront him.^[26] Singh stated he was "not really interested in a biopic" and instead "wanted to create something heightened, stylized and subjective, dancing on the line between reality and spectacle". According to Singh, his initial first draft was met with a "'sobering' marketplace" due to its controversial subject matter.^[13] Pattinson and Brighton McCloskey, however, later came across Singh's draft, and it was enough to attract Pattinson to join the project as producer and convince Oppenheim to sign on as director, who Pattinson believed to be "perfect" for it based off his directorial style.^[14] Pattinson resisted starring in the film at first but was convinced due to the "compelling" version of Hansen crafted by Singh and Oppenheim.^[13] Singh later met with Pattinson and Oppenheim over Zoom to further refine the film's screenplay in December 2024 ahead of filming the following month.^[14] In October 2025, Singh cited Primetime as the most personally impactful project he had ever worked on.^[27]

Principal photography began in New Orleans under the production title Bluefin Tuna in early February 2025 and concluded by March 28.^[28][29] On March 11, Pattinson was spotted on set filming along with purported co-star Phoebe Bridgers.^[30][31] In September 2025, Skyler Gisondo was revealed to be part of the project.^[32] Ari Balouzian composed the film's score.^[33]

Chris Hansen was not involved with the production in any capacity.^[34][35]

Primetime premiered in the main competition of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on September 5, it is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on September 25, 2026.^[36] In April 2026, Indian streaming service Lionsgate Play announced that Primetime would be part of its initial batch of theatrical-first releases in September 2026.^[37] The film will release in the Benelux on October 29 and in France and Germany on September 23.

• Predators (2025 film)