Forget Robert Pattinson: Chris Hansen wanted someone else for 'Primetime'
Think Robert Pattinson was Chris Hansen’s dream pick to play him in Primetime? Think again — and wait until you hear who he wanted instead.
On the true-crime podcast Serialously with Annie Elise, Chris Hansen said he didn’t have a say in who plays him in A24’s Primetime — and if he had, he would’ve gone a different way. The former Dateline correspondent said he once pictured comedian-actor Denis Leary stepping into his shoes.
“I didn’t get to choose my own guy here.”
“I thought Denis Leary would be a good guy to play me, depending on the age of it all.”
Leary’s credits include Demolition Man, Judgment Night, and The Sandlot. Instead, the film casts Robert Pattinson as a younger Hansen during the most scrutinized stretch of his TV career.
Hansen added that he hasn’t seen the movie yet. He said he was invited to be involved by the filmmakers but ultimately stayed hands-off. He plans to attend a private screening next week and share his reaction after that.
His read on the trailer
Hansen called the first trailer “dramatic” and said the creative team behind the film looks impressive — but he also questioned the commercial calculus behind telling this story.
“I also have some questions: what’s Hollywood ’s motive here? We don’t know, but I’ll find out, and I promise I’ll let you know.”
“They want a commercial endeavor to succeed, and they think this is the way it’s going to succeed.”
Early buzz around the footage centered on Pattinson’s transformation into the TV journalist who confronted would-be predators on camera.
What Primetime covers
Primetime tracks Hansen during the peak years of NBC’s To Catch a Predator , the controversial sting-operation series that ran from 2004 to 2007.