Former To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen has thoughts on Robert Pattinson playing him in the upcoming Primetime movie.
“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,’” Hansen, 66, said on the Monday, August 17, episode of the “Serialously” podcast.
Hansen claimed that he didn’t have any participation in the film before someone reached out to him but would be receiving a private screening soon.
“And then I’ll be able to tell you whether I like it or don’t like it and how dramatized it is. My suspicion is that they used my name because it helps in a commercial enterprise,” he said. “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.”
Hansen did, however, admit that he had watched Primetime’s trailer and weighed in with his thoughts.
“It looks dramatic. It looks very dramatic,” Hansen said. “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. Look, I know that he is a very popular actor, and I know that the director [Lance Oppenheim] is a popular guy. I also have some questions. What’s Hollywood’s motive here? We don’t know. But I’ll find out.”
Primetime dramatizes Hansen’s controversial Dateline NBC segment, which filmed sting operations against potential child predators. The film is set in 2006 and will follow the show’s rise.
Hansen explained that he “didn’t get to choose my own guy” to portray him in the movie, and had previously thought a different actor could have been well-suited to be him.
“I always thought — you know, I had discussions years ago. I had crafted a script and thought Denis Leary would be a good guy to play me. Depending on the age of it all,” he said.
These days, Hansen shared that he is busy after recently signing a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster for a thriller series.
“We’re deep into that,” he said. “So everyday I’ve got to [ask], ‘Is this the book Hansen?’ Who has a different name in the book. ‘Is this the fake movie Chris Hansen? Is this what I’ve really got to do today? Who am I today?’”
Primetime hits theaters on September 25.
