Moviegoers who show up to see Robert Pattinson play To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen in Primetime will first find themselves face-to-face with the real thing.
Hansen has purchased preshow advertising on every screen showing the upcoming A24 release, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. In the spot, he directs audiences to TruBlu, his streaming network devoted to the same kind of predator investigations that made him famous.
The film, a dark exploration of Hansen’s specialty of luring suspected sex predators into nondescript suburban kitchens before confronting them on camera, opens Sept. 25 following its world premiere Sept. 5 at the Venice International Film Festival.
Hansen has said on podcasts and on Jesse Watters’ Fox News program that he declined an invitation to see the film because he was required to sign an agreement barring him from taking legal action against A24.
Sources close to Hansen tell THR that he is now consulting attorneys about his options following the film’s release.
In the meantime, Hansen is capitalizing on the renewed attention by placing the ad before every theatrical showing of Primetime. In the spot, shared exclusively with THR, Hansen enters his familiar hunting ground, a kitchen, and delivers a variation on his dread-inducing catchphrase.
“I’m going to need everyone in the theater to take a seat right over there,” he says.
“Now there are more platforms than ever before where this disturbing crime is being committed,” Hansen continues. “Join us undercover every day on my streaming network, TruBlu.”
A QR code directs moviegoers to a landing page for the network, which offers a steady stream of predator investigations and other true-crime programming.
Hansen wanted to end the commercial by reminding audiences that what they were about to see in Primetime was “a Hollywood fantasy version” of what actually happened, according to sources. But there were concerns about possible blowback from A24, and the line was removed.
Directed by Lance Oppenheim, Primetime is based on Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline, This Man Will Die.” The article examines the suicide of Bill Conradt, a Texas district attorney who became a target of one of Hansen’s televised sting operations after allegedly attempting to solicit sex from a minor.
