A24 has unveiled the first trailer for Primetime, its forthcoming drama starring Robert Pattinson, which chronicles the origins of Chris Hansen‘s To Catch a Predator.
In 2024, we were first to report on Primetime, a film from Ren Faire‘s Lance Oppenheim, which at the time hadn’t confirmed Hansen as the subject of the story, issuing a logline about “a journalist who takes on an underworld of crime and changes television forever.”
To Catch a Predator is of course the true-crime program put on as part of Dateline NBC, which chronicled Hansen’s efforts to out suspected child predators, with the help of law enforcement and a team of decoys pretending to be minors online.
Set up as a split screen, the trailer hints at Hansen’s early efforts with the show, as Pattinson issues dialogue that will ring familiar to anyone who’s seen To Catch a Predator — questions Hansen would prod his subjects with after catching them on camera, in an alleged attempt to meet in person with a child.
“What would have happened if I wasn’t here? You see how this looks, right?” Hansen asks. “At the end of the day, a man must be held accountable for the decisions that he makes. Would you agree?”
Pattinson’s TV host later asks, “Do you watch television? Well, there’s something you should know. I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC — and you’re able to be a part of television history.”
While Primetime‘s point of view on Hansen and his program isn’t entirely clear from the teaser, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the film align with that of Predators, an acclaimed 2025 documentary from David Osit, which examined the dubious ethics behind the production of To Catch a Predator. The teaser seems to suggest that the film will be in the vein of Dan Gilroy’s 2014 thriller Nightcrawler, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a shady, ambulance-chasing L.A. stringer.
Also starring Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers, Primetime will hit theaters this fall, though the film has not yet gotten an official release date. Oppenheim directed from a script by Ajon Singh, with Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Fred Berger, Pattinson, Brighton McCloskey, Lars Knudsen and Tyler Campellone producing.
Check out the Primetime teaser above.
