How Robert Pattinson cracked Chris Hansen's voice for 'Primetime' - USA Today

Robert Pattinson had no intention of playing Chris Hansen. 

Initially, the “Odyssey” actor was merely set to produce “Primetime” (in theaters Sept. 25), a hellish dive into the dark underbelly of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” the controversial mid-2000s reality series dedicated to trapping and exposing alleged pedophiles.

But Pattinson eventually decided to suit up as Hansen after stumbling upon a 2018 podcast episode between the well-coiffed “Dateline” journalist and comedian Theo Von.

“Theo was asking him: ‘Do you ever go to therapy?’ ” Pattinson, 40, recalls. “His answer to that made me want to do [the film]. He basically said, ‘No, I just bury everything really, really deep down inside.’ 

“When you see someone who looks like they’re very poised all the time, your natural instinct is to think: ‘What’s behind the poise?’ ” he adds. “There was something mysterious to me about such an innocuous answer that it really pressed on my curiosity.” 

Directed by Lance Oppenheim, “Primetime” imagines Hansen’s insatiable quest to have the No. 1 show on TV, finding queasy new ways to sensationalize coverage and exploit potential predators for an audience of millions. But the thriller also examines the collateral damage of his success, from Hansen’s first wife, Mary Joan (Anna Faris), to the decoy actors (Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers) hired to play kids on “To Catch a Predator.”

Oppenheim knew that he wanted to make “Primetime” after his wife bought him a personalized video message from Hansen through the website Cameo, congratulating the filmmaker on his 2024 documentary “Spermworld.”

“I grew up with the idea of Chris Hansen as this crusader,” Oppenheim says. “When I watched the Cameo, it became clear to me that he was almost embracing this cultural mythology around him. It was like seeing ‘the man becomes meme.’ ”

Throughout the show’s three-year run, Hansen became known for his cutting catchphrases (“You see how this looks, right?”) and preternatural calm while surprising alleged pedophiles. The Chicago native also speaks with a flat, newscaster cadence that is uniquely peppered with drawn-out vowels and irregular inflections.

To portray him, Pattinson spent innumerable hours studying and reciting Hansen’s podcast, “Have a Seat With Chris Hansen.”

“I must have listened to every single episode about 100 times,” Pattinson recalls. “Initially, I didn’t really think of his voice as being such an integral part of his persona. … But you can really tell when you’re doing it wrong or right.”

On past projects, “I would go in and out and then have my normal accent when I'm not shooting,” the British actor adds. “But I had to stay in this quite a lot because, for some reason, I found it very complicated.”

Oppenheim compares Pattinson’s approach to the character as something between “Dracula and Jerry Maguire,” Tom Cruise’s slick sports agent in the 1996 dramedy of the same name. “The Drama” star found inspiration in other unlikely places, too, such as Mel Gibson’s unrelenting Scottish warrior in 1995 epic “Braveheart.”

“I kept sending Lance the trailer for ‘Braveheart’ throughout the shoot and saying: ‘You need to keep this in mind!’ ” Pattinson says. “Also, this is a pretty random one: the [second] track from Nas’ album ‘Nastradamus.’ It’s called ‘Life We Chose.’ 

“I kept listening to that and thinking about the idea of being a journalist,” he says. “It’s like being a cowboy. You’re on the front line, you're in the trenches, and you're completely alone in this world. No one can understand what you're doing. That song really gets at that.”

Despite acclaimed performances in “Good Time” and “The Lighthouse,” Pattinson has yet to be nominated for an Oscar, although many awards pundits predict that will change this season with his explosive work in “Primetime.”

“He was always unexpected – it was like working with a wild animal,” says Merritt Wever, who plays Hansen’s ruthless producer, Andie. “Every time we started a scene, I didn’t know where he was going to go.”

The movie has earned critical raves since premiering at Venice Film Festival earlier this month, although Hansen, 67, himself has publicly disavowed the project, calling it “an insult” and “overly dramatic.” (USA TODAY has reached out to Hansen for comment.)

He also accused the film’s team of not asking him to consult on the project, although Oppenheim says that was never a consideration.

“I talked with a lot of people that knew and worked with him,” Oppenheim says. “But I was more interested in this sort of opaque depiction. I wanted to make something that felt closer to a fever dream than an authorized, conventional biopic. There's plenty of those that exist out there today.”

Hansen has stated that he will watch the movie, and “I’m very excited for him to see it,” Oppenheim says. “I heard he intends to bring a camera crew and do man-on-the-street interviews afterward. At one point, I read that he was intending to do a press conference after. I think all of this is fascinating.”

In some ways, “I was surprised by his reaction. He has a lot to say about it already based off of the marketing materials or reviews that he's read,” the director says. “But to me, I never intended to make this film as a hit piece. I'm coming to it as a fan of his – I see him as a complicated hero.”

Pattinson, too, would love to one day pick Hansen’s brain about “To Catch a Predator,” and the numerous parodies and memes it inspired.  

“The thing I found so interesting is how quickly the show was co-opted by the mainstream pop-culture stuff,” Pattinson says. “It was supposed to be a public service announcement of something pretty horrifying, and the swiftness that it changed into people doing impressions of it on a comedy show is fascinating. I would be interested to see how he felt about that.”

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