“I didn’t get to choose my own guy here,” the journalist said.

Chris Hansen questions ‘Hollywood’s motive’ with Primetime, reveals who he’d want to play him instead of Robert Pattinson

“I didn’t get to choose my own guy here,” the journalist said.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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August 18, 2026 2:37 p.m. ET

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Chris Hansen; Robert Pattinson in ‘Primetime’. Credit:

Mike Pont/WireImage; A24

- Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen in the upcoming film *Primetime*.

- Hansen said that he questions “Hollywood’s motive” for making the movie.

- He also said that he had a different actor in mind to play him in a film: “I didn’t get to choose my own guy here.”

Chris Hansen has some thoughts about the new movie based on his life.

The *Dateline* investigator reacted to the trailer for Lance Oppenheim’s upcoming A24 drama *Primetime*, which sees Robert Pattinson star as a ratings-obsessed version of Hansen during the rise of *To Catch a Predator*.

“I’ve seen the trailer. It looks dramatic,” Hansen told Annie Elise on the Serialously podcast. “I’ve been busy being the real Chris Hansen, so I don’t have a lot of time to focus on the fake Chris Hansen in the movies.”

Chris Hansen in New York City on Jan. 16, 2024.

Jason Mendez/Getty

Hansen indicated that he was familiar with Pattinson and Oppenheim, but wasn’t sure that *Primetime* was made with the best intentions. “I know that he’s a very popular actor. I know that the director is a popular guy,” he said. “But I also have some questions: what’s Hollywood’s motive here? We don’t know, but I’ll find out, and I promise I’ll let you know.”

Hansen didn’t consult on the movie in any capacity, and he suggested that Pattinson wasn’t his first choice to play him. “They want a commercial endeavor to succeed, and they think this is the way it’s going to succeed,” he said. “I didn’t get to choose my own guy here.”

Robert Pattinson in ‘Primetime’.

The journalist has yet to see *Primetime*, but he said that he’s set to view the movie in a private screening within the next week. “And then I’ll be able to tell you whether I like it or don’t like it, and how dramatized it is,” he said. “And my suspicion is that they used my name because it helps in a commercial enterprise. And until I see the full movie, as a reporter, it’s sort of silly for me to talk about something that I haven’t seen yet. So I’m gonna see it.”

Robert Pattinson is out to catch a predator as Chris Hansen in ‘Primetime’ trailer

'To Catch a Predator' decoy wanted to warn would-be pedophiles about hidden cameras: 'Go home'

Hansen eventually told Elise which actor he would’ve wanted to portray him in a movie. “I always thought, you know, I had discussions years ago about — I had crafted a script, and I thought Denis Leary would be a good guy to play me, depending on the age of it all,” he said.

Denis Leary in Las Vegas on April 16, 2026.

Jesse Grant/Getty

He also suggested that someone involved with the film wanted his help with the movie in some capacity, though it wasn’t immediately clear if he was talking about the production or the marketing of the project.

“Some of the people who are involved in [my] management also tangentially have relationships in the Hollywood world. So we had heard that this was in the works,” he said. “A couple months ago, they came out and said, ‘Hey, look, we’re doing this. We’d like you to have some sort of consideration in terms of helping us with this.’”

** has reached out to representatives for Pattinson, Oppenheim, and A24 for comment.

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*Primetime* dramatizes Hansen’s time hosting *To Catch a Predator*, which ran from 2004 to 2007 as a segment on *Dateline*. The movie also stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, and Anna Faris. The film hits theaters on Sept. 25.

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