Robert Pattinson says he's hoping Chris Hansen eventually likes the movie that has him threatening to call a lawyer. At the Venice Film Festival premiere of Primetime, in which Pattinson plays the TV host, the actor was asked about Hansen's public complaints and talk of possible legal action, USA Today reports. "Obviously, I hope he likes the movie," Pattinson said, adding that the project is "some kind of compliment" to the onetime To Catch a Predator host, whose on-screen presence he called "magnetic."
Primetime offers a thinly veiled, fictionalized take on the NBC stings that targeted alleged child predators and was canceled after a probe involving Texas prosecutor Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr., who died by suicide. Hansen, 66, has said that based on what he saw in the trailer, the film is "all made up" and "disappointing." He told Variety last month that Pattinson's portrayal of him is "overly dramatic," though he admitted that his wife and kids think it's a "pretty good imitation."
Hansen has bought preshow ads to plug his TruBlu streaming network before theatrical showings. He's also suggested he may sue. Director Lance Oppenheim says he's eager for Hansen to actually see the movie and he's "excited to hear what he has to say about it." Critics in Venice were largely on Pattinson's side: Primetime holds a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its Sept. 25 theatrical release.
- Nicholas Barber at the BBC praises Pattinson's "dizzying performance" in the "dark media satire." "As in so many of his films, his performance in Primetime is exaggerated and theatrical without ever being arch," Barber writes. "He is completely immersed in the character's strangeness. He plays Hansen as a slippery creep, sometimes buffoonish in his self-confidence and sometimes sinister, and sometimes on the verge of madness."
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