Yes, that’s British actor Robert Pattinson playing a former metro Detroit TV reporter in clips from a movie that is bound to grab attention.
Pattinson will portray former NBC News journalist Chris Hansen in A24’s upcoming “Primetime,” which looks at how “television history” was made with “To Catch a Predator.” The series ran as part of the NBC News show “Dateline” from 2004 to 2007.
A24 dropped the moody, shadowy teaser trailer on Wednesday, May 27, for the film, which will be released sometime this fall. From the early glimpse, it looks as if “Primetime” could be an intense look at the series that made Hansen famous.
In the teaser trailer, Pattinson, who recently co-starred with Zendaya in “The Drama,” drops his usual British accent and sounds much like a Michigander when he says, “I’m Chris Hansen with ‘Dateline NBC,’ and you’re about to be a part of television history.”
Hansen, an alum of Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills and Michigan State University, worked in metro Detroit as a TV reporter for WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) from 1984 to 1988 and WDIV-TV (Channel 4) from 1988 to 1993. In 1993, he joined NBC News.
The controversial “To Catch a Predator” used decoys posing online as minors in an undercover search for potential child predators. When the men arrived to meet the the decoys, they were confronted by Hansen and arrested by police as they left the sites.
“Primetime” isn’t the first film to cover Hansen’s true-crime series. A 2025 documentary called “Predators” took what it described as a “chilling, thought-provoking exploration of the scintillating rise and staggering fall” of the investigative series.
“Primetime” is the narrative feature debut of documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim. It co-stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and singer Phoebe Bridgers.
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Robert Pattinson plays former Detroiter Chris Hansen in ‘Primetime’
Reporting by Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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