Robert Pattinson is chasing child predators in A24’s ‘Primetime’
It’s peak Pattinson, baby. British actor and former immortal teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson is once again hitting our screens for the third of four planned appearances this year. Earlier this April, he starred opposite Zendaya in the prenuptial disaster film, “The Drama.” Just this July, he delivered a critically acclaimed performance as Antinous in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
And now, he’s the lead in Lance Oppenheim’s narrative feature film debut, “Primetime,” ahead of yet another villainous role in “Dune: Part Three.”
Oscar buzz is already swirling around Pattinson as a new rule recently approved by The Academy accommodates multiple submissions from a single actor within the same category. While it is unlikely that Pattinson will receive Best Actor nominations for both “The Drama” and “Primetime,” many of his fans are reveling in the variety of his performances and lauding his propensity to play stranger and stranger characters.
From a mad 19th-century assistant to Willem Defoe in Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse” to the voice of The Grey Heron in Miyazaki’s “The Boy and The Heron,” Pattinson has widely delved into the peculiar over the course of his career.
However, his next role as the controversial “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen explores a ratings-driven mania and an unsettling veneer of social justice.
Who is Chris Hansen?
Chris Hansen was the host of a segment on Dateline NBC that operated on the premise of catching predators through undercover setups. Cameras would roll as hired actors would play the part of underaged victims in an attempt to ensnare suspected sex offenders, with Hansen and his crew waiting behind the scenes.
In a climactic moment, Hansen would reveal himself to the distressed predator, humiliating them on camera before eventually surrendering them to proper authorities.
The show ran from 2004 to 2007, turning Hansen into a household name. During its run, the show enjoyed outrageous viewer turnouts, reaching an average of seven million viewers per episode during the 2006–2007 television season.
What’s more, the nature of the show made for gripping entertainment, tapping into the 2000s culture of true crime fascination—to this day, a major phenomenon—and sanctimonious ecstasy bordering on arousal. All an audience could ever want, after all, is a sense of moral superiority.
Controversy and real-life consequences
As one would expect, the show was not without its ethical complaints. The line between delivering justice and amusement was deliberately blurred—perpetrators were never read their rights and sometimes misled to believe that they were headed toward rehabilitation centers. The controversy did not necessarily revolve around concern for the potential predators, but the integrity of the operation as a whole.
What happens when justice heeds to viewership and audience approval? In questioning the motivations of the participants involved, particularly those of the host, the real-life consequences of the show were implicated as well.
It all came to a head in November 2006. An actor posing as a 13-year-old boy was hired to lure the target to a home in Texas, where Hansen was awaiting the golden moment. The man, who was revealed to be an assistant district attorney in a neighboring county, never showed up to the designated meeting.
Instead, police and camera crews arrived at his house unannounced. He killed himself as officers and producers swarmed outside his home. The show was then canceled in 2008 following a lawsuit from the family of the deceased.
“Predators,” a feature documentary released just last year, explores the three-year Dateline segment and the fallout from the show.
Other “Primetime” performances to watch out for
Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers is set to make her formal acting debut in the upcoming film. She previously made a brief cameo as herself in another A24 film “I Saw the TV Glow,” directed by Jane Schoenbrun. This time around, she is dipping her toes in the acting world as a member of the surveillance crew on Hansen’s team.
Anna Faris also makes an appearance in the film as Hansen’s wife. Giving listeners of Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast a glimpse into the highly anticipated movie, she says, “I just have one scene as his odd, strange, wife. And it was incredible.”
“I had this moment where I’m stretched out on the bed and Robert Pattinson is grabbing my foot and pulling it down across his face,” she lightheartedly adds—a rather unsurprising remark to longtime Pattinson devotees.
The film is set for a theatrical release in the United States on Sept. 25. It has yet to be confirmed whether it will be released in the Philippines.
