Robert Pattinson's Primetime branded 'bizarre' by Chris Hansen after To Catch A Predator host watched film in theaters

To Catch A Predator host Chris Hansen called Primetime 'bizarre' after watching the film starring Robert Pattinson as the acclaimed journalist hunting down suspected child molesters for the first time. For three years, Hansen, 67, hosted the popular yet controversial series in which suspected child predators were ensnared with the help of adult decoys pretending to be minors.Pattinson, 40, now stars as Hansen in a movie based on the making of the show - a film which looks back at the NBC series with a more critical lens.In video posted to his X account, Hansen was still absorbing the film as he emerged from the theater, struggling to find the right words to describe what he had just seen. 'It was so bizarre, and so in and out of reality, it's hard for me... obviously I'm not objective because the character is, you know, me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I've ever experienced, then or now, doing the investigations,' Hansen said. 'I just think, I'm not sure what the point of it was,' he added. To Catch A Predator host Chris Hansen called Primetime, the film starring Robert Pattinson as the journalist hunting down suspected child molesters, 'bizarre' in his first initial reaction to the movie Robert Pattinson plays Hansen in a fictionalized adaptation of the making of To Catch A Predator To Catch a Predator was a recurring segment on Dateline NBC in which Hansen confronted suspected child predators who were allegedly attempting to meet with minors (who were actually adult decoys) they had met online. The show ended in ignominy in 2007 after one of its targets, an assistant district attorney in Texas called Bill Conradt, killed himself while SWAT was storming his house with Hansen’s camera crew right outside.On each edition of To Catch a Predator, a man was lured to an appointed location by the offer of a sexual encounter with a supposed minor who turned out in fact to be one of Hansen's adult decoys in disguise.Hansen would then appear on the scene and expose the meet-up as a sting operation, with the authorities poised nearby to make an arrest.During and after its run, the show drew questions over its ethics, such as over the balance between law enforcement concerns and the requirements of showbiz.Primetime premiered earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival to a seven-minute standing ovation. In his first public comments on the film, Hansen questioned 'Hollywood's motive' in producing a project about him, saying: 'We don't know, but I'll find out,' in an appearance on the podcast Serialously With Annie Elise.Although he quibbled with Pattinson's portrayal of him, he confessed that his family 'seem to think it's a pretty good imitation.' Pattinson plays the former To Catch A Predator host, whose show had been given the primetime slot 'I'm not sure what the point of it was,' Hansen said immediately after seeing the film; pictured on an episode of To Catch A Predator Hansen also disclosed that he was scheduled to attend a private screening of the movie the week after the interview, which hit the internet in mid-August.'Until I see the full movie, you know, I as a reporter, it's sort of silly for me to talk about something that I haven't seen yet - so I'm going to see it,' he said. 'Then I'll be able to tell you whether I like it or don't like it, and how dramatized it is.'He was less diplomatic on the subject of Pattinson's casting, saying: 'Obviously they want a commercial endeavor to succeed, and they think this is the way it's going to succeed - you know, I didn't get to choose my own guy.'Hansen explained that he had entered 'discussions years ago' about a potential movie about To Catch a Predator, and felt at the time that Denis Leary, who is two years his senior, 'would be a good guy' to play him if the project came to fruition. Primetime premiered earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival to a seven-minute standing ovationHowever he clarified in the same interview: 'I've been busy being the real Chris Hansen, so I don't have a lot of time to focus on the fake Chris Hansen.'Primetime is the first fictional feature film directed by Lance Oppenheim, who previously specialized in documentaries.His resume includes Some Kind of Heaven, a profile of the world's biggest retirement community, and Spermworld, which covers both sperm donors and recipients.Oppenheim's upcoming To Catch a Predator film, with a cast that includes Anna Faris and Phoebe Bridgers, is scheduled for theatrical release on September 25.