Robert Pattinson says he made “Primetime” as a fan of the man he plays. The actor, who stars as former “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen in the A24 thriller, spoke at the film’s London Film Festival premiere on Sunday, Oct. 11, and in a separate interview with ET reported by Deadline. “I was trying to make him cool. He is cool. I’m a fan,” Pattinson said.
A premiere and a public disagreement
Hansen has criticized the film since seeing it. He told Variety it is a “complete work of fiction” and has talked about possible legal action against A24, according to Variety. In a video posted on X, he called it “bizarre” and “detached from reality,” the BBC reports. Director Lance Oppenheim answered the criticism at the London event. “I agree, that was by design,” he said, describing the film as “more of a fever dream than something that was representational portrait.”
Pattinson told Deadline’s source, ET, that he has seen young audiences turn up to screenings dressed as Hansen. “Everybody’s doing Chris Hansen impressions,” he said, adding that he hopes it sends viewers back to Hansen’s own work.
What Pattinson said about the script
At BFI Imax, Pattinson said writer Ajon Singh’s script “felt like it was a grenade.” He joined as star and producer, and said the film felt “original and funny and multi-faceted… a little dangerous,” Variety reports. Speaking to the BBC, he said the film’s subject is hard for a parent to think about, and that the original show sat in “slightly dicey territory” where powerful TV and real-world enforcement overlapped.
Box office and release dates
“Primetime” premiered at the Venice Film Festival, opened in U.S. theaters on Sept. 25 and has grossed $38 million against a $14.5 million budget, Variety reports. The U.K. release is set for Oct. 30. Variety’s Australian edition reports an Oct. 29 release in Australia and New Zealand, along with a behind-the-scenes camera test of Pattinson’s transformation. The cast also includes Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers.
Sources: Variety, Deadline (citing ET) and BBC News, Oct. 11-12, 2026. Featured image is an editorial illustration, not a still from the film.
