Chris Hansen Fires Back Against Hollywood's New Hit Piece About 'To Catch a Predator': 'It's an Insult'
Former host of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” Chris Hansen, said Wednesday that the movie adaptation of the show’s origins, “Primetime,” was absurd and inaccurate.
Before viewing the film, Hansen sat down with commentator Tyrus Murdoch on Tuesday and said he had no problem with lead actor Robert Pattinson, but he did take issue with what he saw in the trailer.
“It’s shocking, and a bit of an insult, based upon what I’ve seen in the trailer, based upon what other people have told me about the film, and I’ll go see it … But it’s an insult to turn something that’s been so positive and so important into a dark, over-dramatized film [and] twisting what happened.”
Hansen also said that director Lance Oppenheim admitted the project is almost entirely fictional and refused an opportunity to meet with him to discuss real-life events.
“You would think if you’re doing a movie based upon my work in the predator investigations, you’d want to talk to me,” he surmised.
“The assumption is that I was involved. I had nothing to do with it, right? So, Lance Oppenheim tells my colleague, ‘It’s a love letter to Chris Hansen. If he’s OK with a documentary, he’ll love this. It takes some weird dark turns.’ It’s not. It’s a completely fictionalized, dark view of what happened.”
Hansen added, “There’s nothing remotely attached to reality. They’ve turned it into a drama of media egos trying to create stories for fame.”
When Tyrus expressed surprise at how Hollywood tried to vilify Hansen, he replied, “What do you expect out of an industry that was led for years by one of the most prolific predators to walk the face of the earth, Harvey Weinstein?”
After seeing the movie in New York City, Hansen provided a review that was just as damning as his initial statements.
“It was so bizarre, and so in and out of reality,” he explained. “It’s hard for me to — obviously I’m not objective, because the character is me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I’ve ever experienced, then or now, doing the investigations. I just think it — I’m not sure what the point of it was.”
He then interviewed moviegoers outside the theater, who’d also seen the film, and asked for their thoughts.
One viewer called it “very intense” and “sadistic,” while another said it wasn’t realistic and was “over-dramatized.”
Another said it “took away from the purpose” of Hansen’s work, catching child predators.
Hansen later noted that “98 percent” of the movie was “pure fiction.” His final verdict on the project was that it was underwhelming, strange, and full of Hollywood lies.
“Now, I grant you, I’m probably not the most objective reviewer of this movie, since A24 made it without my consult or consideration, and they used my name, image, and likeness,” he said. “I can tell you that most of it is pure fiction.”
“They mix in some reality here and there. At the end of the day, I wasn’t blown away by it either way,” Hansen concluded. “It’s a movie, and I’ll continue to do the work I do, and people can watch this movie and make up their own minds.”
NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” ran from 2004 to 2007, ending in controversy after one of the show’s targets, Texas prosecutor Bill Conradt, took his own life with a firearm in 2006 before he could be arrested by a SWAT Team, according to ABC News.
A Dateline camera crew was accompanying the SWAT team, resulting in a lawsuit from Conradt’s sister for $109 million against NBC Universal.
The show came under heavy scrutiny and was cancelled in 2007. Both parties “amicably resolved” the case out of court, however, in 2008.
A spiritual successor to the show called “Takedown with Chris Hansen” was launched in 2022 and is available on the streaming service TruBlu.
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