A24 released the first full trailer Thursday for “Primetime,” a crime drama starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the former “To Catch a Predator” host whose Dateline NBC sting operations became a ratings phenomenon in the mid-2000s.
The film, set in 2006, follows Mr. Hansen as he pushes the show toward mainstream success. In the trailer, Mr. Pattinson’s Hansen tells one man lured to a sting house that they are “doing a story on adults who try to meet teens online,” before the segment escalates into a confrontation and arrest, according to TheWrap. Merritt Wever plays an unnamed producer working alongside him.
“Primetime” marks the narrative feature debut of documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, known for “Some Kind of Heaven,” “Spermworld” and HBO’s “Ren Faire.” The screenplay is by Ajon Singh, based on an article by Luke Dittrich. The cast also includes Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine and singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, who is making her acting debut in the role.
Producers include Mr. Pattinson, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Fred Berger, William Iannaccone, Brighton McCloskey, Lars Knudsen, Tyler Campellone and Ari Aster. The film is a production of Range Media, Icki Eneo Arlo and Square Peg.
“To Catch a Predator” ran as a periodic Dateline NBC segment from 2004 to 2007, sending Mr. Hansen and a camera crew to confront men who arrived at decoy houses expecting to meet minors they had contacted online. The series effectively ended after the fallout from a November 2006 sting in Murphy, Texas, in which Rockwall County, Texas, assistant district attorney Bill Conradt took his own life as police and the “Predator” team arrived at his home with search and arrest warrants. He had exchanged messages with the show’s decoy but never traveled to meet him. NBC formally canceled the series in 2008 amid intense legal and ethical scrutiny, including an ABC “20/20” investigation and a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Mr. Conradt’s sister.
The show’s ethics were also examined in “Predators,” a 2025 documentary that scrutinized both the program and public fascination with it.
“Primetime” will have its world premiere in competition at the Venice International Film Festival in early September before opening in theaters Sept. 25.
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