Robert Pattinson’s surprising transformation into Chris Hansen has fans buzzing.
A24 dropped their first trailer for “Primetime” on Wednesday, in which Pattinson plays the real-life investigative journalist. The film tells the origin story of Hansen’s notorious “To Catch a Predator” series.
The logline for “Primetime” reads, “In 2006, ‘To Catch a Predator’ host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history.”
Pattinson, 40, drastically changed his voice to embody Hansen, who became famous for hosting the “Dateline” segment “To Catch a Predator.” The segment, which ran from 2004 to 2007, centered around Hansen confronting adult men trying to have sex with minors with hidden cameras.
Pattinson (as Hansen) says in a voice-over in the trailer, “What would have happened if I wasn’t here? You see how this looks, right?”
He continues, “At the end of the day, men must be held accountable for the decisions that he makes, do you agree?”
The dark trailer shows footage of potential Internet predators getting caught on video.
“Do you watch television?” the voice-over continues. “Well there’s something you should know. I’m Chris Hansen with ‘Dateline NBC,’ and you’re about to be a part of television history.”
“Primetime,” directed by Lance Oppenheim, is set to hit theaters on Sept. 11. The film also stars Anna Faris, Pheobe Bridgers, Merritt Wever and Skyler Gisondo.
“To Catch a Predator” has been controversial since its debut. The series featured Hansen’s team posing as underage boys and girls on the Internet, then ambushing adult men in a sting operation after getting them to try to meet up with the minors they were posing as.
Hansen would then confront the men with embarrassing evidence of the chats, and often the men would later be arrested by police, who were waiting outside for them.
Critics questioned the vigilante approach of the show — especially after Texas assistant district attorney Bill Conradt committed suicide in 2006 when “Dateline” cameras and police surrounded his house to arrest him. NBC later settled a lawsuit brought on by Conradt’s sister in 2008.
Hansen, 66, defended the series in an interview with Time in February 2015.
“I think we raised awareness and created a dialogue that didn’t exist before,” he said. “We created compelling television, and I think we exposed a lot of bad people who were preying on children.”
‘So if the old-guard journalists have a problem with that, then so be it,” he added.
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