How Accurate Is Robert Pattinson's Chris Hansen Performance In Primetime?

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Spoilers follow.

In "Primetime," (read our review here) Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen, the host of the infamous "To Catch a Predator." There's always a risk when an actor plays a real person who is still alive, and Pattinson's twitchy, manic take on Hansen has already garnered a lot of attention — including from Hansen himself, who doesn't seem pleased about the movie's existence. Hansen actually hasn't seen the film (at least that we're aware of), but he's been quoted as being unhappy with the film's approach. "[I]t is a completely made-up work of fiction," he told THR. "Why would they not contact or consult me? Because they don't care about the real story."

So just how accurate is Robert Pattinson's take on Hansen? From a visual standpoint, he doesn't really look like Hansen, outside of donning a similar haircut. But Pattinson did work hard to recreate Hansen's voice, specifically the voice Hansen used on "To Catch a Predator" when he advised alleged pedophiles to "have a seat over there."

"I must have listened to every single episode about 100 times," Pattinson said. "Initially, I didn't really think of his voice as being such an integral part of his persona ... But you can really tell when you're doing it wrong or right."

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The question remains: How accurate is Pattinson's performance? Truth be told, there's no real way of answering that. "Primetime" is based on real events, but at the end of the film there's a text disclaimer stating that certain elements have been fictionalized. On top of that, the film is very much a behind-the-scenes look at "To Catch a Predator" while also being a psychological deconstruction of Hansen.

Which means that unless we were actually on the set of "Predator," or serving as the real Chris Hansen's psychologist, we can't really know for sure. The public persona of Chris Hansen — that is, the guy we saw on "To Catch a Predator" — seemed cool and collected; a pro. Pattinson, in turn, plays Hansen as a kind of manic empty vessel — he seems to have no actual human feelings other than an insatiable urge to succeed. And he's prone to crashing out. 

Ultimately, I think what matters most about Pattinson's performance is not whether or not it's 100% accurate, but instead whether or not we believe it. I think on that front, Pattinson is wildly successful. Watching Pattinson on screen, I completely bought into his interpretation of Hansen. It's a great performance.

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The climax of "Primetime" involves Hansen and his team trying to expose a public official — a Texas DA played by Alex Winter — for being a suspected pedophile. Ultimately, the DA shoots himself as police (and the "To Catch a Predator" team) surround his house.

This is based on a real event, where Bill Conradt, assistant district attorney of Rockwall County, Texas died by suicide during a similar sting. This scene is presented as the end of "To Catch a Predator" and, seemingly, Chris Hansen. Pattinson's Hansen looks and behaves shell-shocked by the event and even sheds a tear or two, although it's likely he's crying over the end of his career rather than the death of the DA.

However, that's not exactly what happened. Conradt's suicide happened in 2006, and "To Catch a Predator" stayed on the air until 2008, at which point it was canceled. The suicide did cast a shadow on the show, however, and might have contributed to its inevitable end. Even so, while Pattinson's Hansen looks stunned by the moment, the real Hansen has seemingly no regrets about how it all went down. "We were covering what the police were doing. We didn't have a role in the decision. The police decided to do it, and we covered it like any other arrest we would cover in the course of reporting the story," he told THR, and when pressed on whether or not he "had sleepless nights, second thoughts or a change of heart after that incident," Hansen simply replied: "No. We continued to conduct investigations after that."