How Robert Pattinson Mastered Chris Hansen’s “Incredibly Difficult” Voice for ‘Primetime’

Robert Pattinson is revealing how he mastered Chris Hansen‘s voice for his portrayal of the To Catch a Predator host in A24’s Primetime. During a recent interview with GQ India, The Odyssey star admitted it was “incredibly difficult” trying to perfect the Dateline journalist’s tone because “it’s just such a unique voice.” Pattinson said he leaned on Hansen’s podcast Have A Seat with Chris Hansen to help familiarize himself with the host’s vocal pattern. “He has a podcast discussing his old cases, and I was just walking around constantly trying to imitate his voice, but it’s pretty dark material,” the actor said. “I’m wandering around the streets saying what he’s talking about, and people are incredibly confused with what’s going on.” “But his voice is really iconic to me, and it’s very hard to do it,” he added. Primetime chronicles the intense production, ethical dilemmas and media sensationalism behind To Catch a Predator, which ran from 2004 to 2007. Pattinson told GQ India that he initially signed on to the project as a producer after connecting with Ajon Singh’s screenplay. He later suggested Lance Oppenheim direct the film after previously working with him on a documentary. “I was like, ‘There’s something about his style that could connect. There’s some sort of Oliver Stone-y, Brian De Palma version of this movie, and I think his style is really perfect for it,'” the Twilight alum recalled. “And then when the second draft of the script came in, I was like, ‘Ooh, I really like this.’ It’s really unusual and kind of audacious. I’m so curious to see how people will receive it.” “It’s so fun to work on something where it was Lance’s first narrative feature. Everyone cared so much about it. It’s the first thing I’ve properly produced from the very, very beginning. And we were doing it really as a team the whole way through it,” Pattinson added. “It was one of those things where you’re like, ‘Okay, we’re throwing everything at this and trying to make it work.’ So I’m curious how it’s going to go down.” Hansen, who was not involved with the film, recently questioned “Hollywood’s motive” behind the movie. During an interview with podcaster Annie Elise, he said the film’s team reached out to him a few months ago and said, “‘Hey look, we’re doing this, we’d like you to have some sort of consideration in terms of helping us with this.'” However, he noted that Primetime was already shot by the time they contacted him. As for what he thought about Pattinson’s portrayal, the journalist also told Entertainment Tonight last week, “While I think it’s overly dramatic, I think there is a pretty good imitation there in the trailer.” Primetime hits theaters on Sept. 25.