Chris Hansen didn’t get to take a seat for the new A24 movie “Primetime.” The 66-year-old veteran journalist went to the offices of indie distributor A24 to watch the Lance Oppenheim film, in which he is played by Robert Pattinson, before it bows at the Venice Film Festival. He left without seeing it. The former “To Catch a Predator” host went on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” to say he showed up at the studio’s offices for a 10 a.m. private screening of “Primetime” on Thursday.
The Pattinson-led drama is built around Hansen’s run atop the hidden-camera franchise. But Hansen claims he walked away after refusing to sign a legal agreement he describes as unlike anything he has encountered in four decades on the beat. I went all the way over there.” Pressed by Watters on whether he walked in without legal cover, Hansen says his attorneys had already reviewed the paperwork and advised against signing.
I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” The account marks a sharp turn from where Hansen left things only days earlier. Speaking on the “Serialously With Annie Elise” podcast, he said A24 was setting him up with a private screening “in the next week or so,” after which he would render a verdict on the film and how he felt about the depiction of his career. On Fox News, he said that screening appears to have collapsed at the threshold.
Hansen says he cannot say what the studio might be worried about, because he still has not watched a minute of the picture. They had told me that it’s fictionalized in many aspects. I know other people have seen it who didn’t sign an NDA, and yet they wanted me to sign it.” Sources close to the production claim that’s not true telling Variety that those who have seen the film have personal relationships with the filmmakers and are credited in the movie.
In addition, a source with direct knowledge says it is standard policy for individuals not associated with a film to sign an NDA before viewing it prior to its public release. In the trailer and other marketing materials for the film, the indie distributor has labeled “Primetime” as “inspired by true events” and has not characterized it as a biopic of Hansen or his life. The film is written by Ajon Singh, one of Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch from 2025, and is inspired by “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die” by Luke Dittrich.
Hansen is careful to note he is not chasing a payday. He learned the movie existed, he says, the way he has learned most things across a long career. But I find stuff out,” Hansen says.
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