Overview
- The A24 film Primetime received a prolonged standing ovation at its Venice world premiere on Saturday, Sept. 5, and critics singled out Robert Pattinson’s transformative turn as Chris Hansen.
- Early reviews give the film strong marks and it held about a 93% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes based on initial festival coverage.
- Chris Hansen has publicly refused to sign a screening agreement he described as surrendering rights to his name and image, has not viewed the finished film, and has purchased preshow ads to promote his TruBlu service while weighing legal options.
- A24 and director Lance Oppenheim say the film is a dramatized, loosely adapted project based on Luke Dittrich’s reporting and characterize the requested preview protections as standard, while Oppenheim frames the project as an examination of how such journalism becomes entertainment.
- Primetime revisits the ethics of Dateline NBC’s To Catch a Predator and the 2006 Conradt case, a history that critics and the film itself use to raise questions about televised sting operations and the responsibilities of news, law enforcement, and entertainment before the movie’s wide release.