Chris Hansen Slams A24 Film as 'Complete Fiction,' Eyes Lawsuit — SkimNews
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- Chris Hansen told Variety that A24's 'Primetime' is a 'complete work of fiction,' asserting the only accurate elements are his name and 'two or three catchphrases,' while everything else — including a mentorship storyline with decoys and his personal/love life portrayals — is fabricated.
- Hansen defended the real 2006 sting that led to assistant district attorney Louis William Conradt Jr.'s suicide, saying Texas Rangers found child sexual abuse material on Conradt's computer, that police independently made the arrest decision, and that the film's framing of ratings-driven pressure is 'just didn't happen.'
- Hansen said he is considering legal action against A24, arguing the studio 'exploited' his name and 45-year brand for commercial gain, calling the use of his identity in a fictional film 'identity theft in one way or another.'
- A24's 'Primetime,' directed by Lance Oppenheim and starring Robert Pattinson as a fictionalized Hansen, is based on a 2009 Esquire article about the Conradt case and has outperformed at the box office despite Hansen's objections.
- Hansen invited both Oppenheim and Pattinson on his podcast to discuss the film, and questioned the filmmakers' larger point, invoking Harvey Weinstein-era Hollywood and saying, 'You ask Lance Oppenheim, and he'll tell you that this is an interpretation of the internet's interpretation of another interpretation of Chris Hansen.'
- Hansen continues running his media platform TruBlu, which launched the 'To Catch a Predator' spiritual successor 'Takedown With Chris Hansen' in 2022, and pointed to a recent San Francisco sting that caught an Ivy League-educated lawyer as evidence the work continues.
Why it matters: If Hansen follows through on legal threats against A24, the studio could face a right-of-publicity or trademark-style fight over using a real journalist's identity in a clearly fictional but branded package — a fight with implications for any future fact-based drama built on a living public figure. For Hansen, a former NBC correspondent now running his own streaming platform, the dispute also doubles as a credibility battle: he needs audiences to understand that the predator-catching mission he has run for 22 years is not what Pattinson's vampire-tinged portrayal depicts.
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