In the latest chapter of the seemingly ceaseless Chris Hansen-Primetime melodrama, the former Dateline NBC anchor sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to rehash prior gripes about the film and the hypocrisy of Hollywood, invoking Harvey Weinstein as he criticized the film for being overly “dramatic” and “dark,” two things we definitely shouldn’t associate with his career. Speaking during a call from Chicago (where he’s appearing at a conference of the National Center For Victims Of Crime), Hansen said, “Based upon what I’ve seen in the trailer and my understanding of what has been written about the film, they wanted to create something much darker,” perhaps not grasping that luring predatory men into a sting operation using young actors as decoys is itself quite dark.
When THR‘s Seth Abramovitch said that reviews of Oppenheim’s film suggest Hansen’s collaborative sex-predator stings with local law enforcement crossed ethical lines, Hansen rejected it. “It’s just not true. From the beginning, we were transparent about what we did, how we did it and the results. The film’s timeline, scenario and conversations are completely made up.”
As for Hansen’s very negative, very public reactions to a film about his career that, we must stress, he still hasn’t seen, he balks at being cast as “angry” about the situation—”I’ve never been angry about it,” he says. “Don’t portray me as some angry guy”—and is quick to call out the hypocrisy of the Hollywood system, which he says enables sexual predators like Harvey Weinstein (currently serving what is ostensibly a life sentence following an additional 16-year sentence in 2023). “I guess it’s not surprising that a Hollywood studio would act in such an exploitive or predatory manner. We’re talking about an industry that was led by perhaps one of the biggest predators to walk the planet, Harvey Weinstein. They’ll all pat each other on the back and say, ‘What a great job. This is really dark and mysterious and intriguing.'”
When Abramovitch asked about the film reexamining the suicide of Texas prosecutor Bill Conradt during Hansen’s 2006 sting operation outside his home, as recounted in Luke Dittrich’s 2007 Esquire article, “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die,” Hansen said: “There are certain things you can’t control. Obviously, you don’t want anybody taking their own life, but that was a decision made by that individual. They’ll ramp it up in the film, I’m sure, and make it more dramatic than it really was.”
Hansen’s beef with Primetime has become both the film’s best source of free advertising and something of a minor saga of its own. The former Dateline NBC anchor—whose investigative series To Catch A Predator (spanning 2004 to 2007) led to the launch of his own true crime network, TruBlu, in 2022—ain’t bin fer this film but agin it from the start, saying that while he appreciates star Robert Pattinson’s impersonation of him, the existence of this “overly dramatic” film is “inconsiderate.” At any rate, Hansen not only seems energized by airing his grievances to an ironically rapt audience, he’s feeling generous enough to buy advertising before all Primetime screenings to promote TruBlu.
Those seeking a palate cleanser should watch this completely unrelated video from Mr. Show.
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