Hansen, who refused producer A24’s offer to screen the Lance Oppenheim-directed film in full after he alleges he was asked to sign over the rights to his “life, image, and brand” via an NDA, does concede that Pattinson’s is a “pretty good imitation.” He also notes that his family seems to dig the Mickey 17 actor’s version of him, while doubling down on his protests that Pattinson’s typically high-strung performance in the trailer includes him “saying things I never said and doing things I never did, and that’s not who I am.” As the subject of a recent eye-opening documentary about media ethics concludes, “I’m a nice guy, except when it comes to criminals and predators.”
To Catch A Predator, despite its enormous ratings success and position as cultural touchstone (just ask Dennis Duffy), has undergone a serious reappraisal in the years since its 2008 cancellation following the suicide of Texas assistant district attorney Bill Conradt, who’d been targeted by one of Hansen’s online stings, exchanging explicit materials with someone he thought was an underage boy.
Primetime‘s exploration of the controversial nature of Hansen’s crusade to capture alleged pedophiles (while getting very famous himself) has done nothing to quell Hansen’s quest for the spotlight. After Pattinson was cast, Hansen announced that he’d have preferred Denis Leary take the role, while he has used some of that Predator money to purchase ads before every Primetime screening promoting TruBlu, his streaming network where the controversial host continues his crusade on the internet.
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