Chris Hansen Brands Robert Pattinson's Portrayal of Him in 'Primetime' 'So Bizarre' While Slamming Writers for Depicting Him as a 'Detached Father'
Chris Hansen has slammed Robert Pattison's portrayal of him in his new film, 'Primetime.'
Sept. 28 2026, Published 1:20 p.m. ET
Chris Hansen has ripped into Robert Pattison's portrayal of him in his new movie Primetime, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The television personality, 67, claimed that the movie bore little resemblance to his experience as the journalist behind To Catch a Predator as he criticized the writers for depicting him as a "detached father."
'So Detached From Reality'
Hansen was scathing in this criticizm of 'Primetime.'
Hansen described Pattinson's version of him as "so detached, so unhinged, so dark, so unlikeable."
He also called the film "so bizarre" and claimed it had been "so detached from reality or anything I’ve experienced then or now doing the investigation."
"What bothered me most was that it portrayed me as an aloof, detached father from my sons," he added, dubbing those scenes "mean-spirited, untrue, and unworthy of the viewers' time."
Movie 'Upset My Former Colleagues'
The journalist said the film was a flop with some of his former colleagues.
According to Hansen, some of his former and current colleagues also reacted negatively to the flick.
Speaking on his Have A Seat With Chris Hansen podcast, he said the movie "upset my colleagues," and alleged some of them "got bored after the first 30 minutes."
The film is directed by Lance Oppenheim and takes inspiration from Hansen and the cultural phenomenon surrounding To Catch a Predator. But rather than serving as a conventional biography, Primetime approaches its subject through a fictionalized psychological-thriller framework.
Hansen called out Oppenheim for having a "dark image of what he wanted to do," regardless of whether it had really happened in that way, in the host's opinion.
Hansen Upset Over Being Turned Into 'Bad Guy'
Hansen hit out at the movie's director.
The journalist explained: "He wanted to create a horror-like film with interesting photography and didn’t want to hear anything else.(He) didn’t want to have his mind polluted by anything positive that this actually achieved over the last 22 years."
"Hollywood wants to demonize the guy doing what I think is very good work that has created a dialogue that didn’t exist before and an awareness that didn’t exist before," he continued. "And yet they turn him into the bad guy. And so you have to question the motives of not coming forward and talking to me or anybody who I worked closely with over the years."
"And they didn’t want to hear that Chris Hansen is a good guy," he noted. "They didn’t want to hear that this work is important."
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Hansen said Pattinson deserved a 'D' grade for his performance in the movie.
When asked specifically for his opinion of Pattinson’s performance, he gave the Twilight star, 40, a subpar grade of "D" despite calling him a "talented actor."
Running from 2004 to 2007 and hosted by Hansen, To Catch a Predator conducted sting operations to lure would-be predators to a house where they expected to meet with a minor (played by a decoy actor of legal age).
Instead, they would be confronted by Hansen and his camera crew before being arrested by police.
