Robert Pattinson went to great lengths to perfect his embodiment of real-life “To Catch a Predator” journalist Chris Hansen, admitting that seeing the project through was “actually incredibly difficult.”
The actor detailed just how he went about the voice work for playing Hansen in A24’s upcoming “Primetime” in a recent interview with GQ. Pattinson was asked about his approach to finding the iconic voice behind “have a seat right over there.” It’s not the first time a role has demanded a studied approach to the voice. He has become known for changing the way he talks in films – most recently in “Mickey 17” – but for Hansen he found himself wandering around town listening to the “To Catch a Predator” host over and over again.
“It’s just such a unique voice. It was actually incredibly difficult,” Pattinson said. “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. 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.”
For his part, Hansen has grown more vocal in recent weeks about not being a fan of “Primetime” or its depiction of him. When the trailer dropped it teased a dark tone, with Pattinson portraying the journalist as a punisher and ratings-chasing opportunist.
Hansen has begun speaking out about the film after he refused to sign an NDA to view an early preview, and he even took out ads for his boutique true crime streaming network, TruBlu, that will play exclusively in front of “Primetime” for the first four weeks of its run.
The host also told “The Dan Abrams Show” that he was still considering legal action against the film, and was warned that coming out too strongly against “Primetime” would allow the studio to market it as “the movie Chris Hansen doesn’t want you to see.”
From what Hansen has seen, he’s noted a number of inconsistencies from what actually happened. Hansen called Pattinson “a gifted actor, obviously,” but noted that he’s “darkened up and almost vampirish, and the conversations you heard in the trailer never took place in real life. And I was there.”
Pattinson told GQ that “Primetime” is the first project he’s produced from the very beginning, before a final script and producer had even firmed up.
“I really liked the first draft of the script. And then we thought about Lance Oppenheim, who I was developing a documentary with, as the director,” he said. “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.’
“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. I remember two Christmases ago, I was on Zoom on Christmas Day for eight hours with Lance and Ajon [Singh], who [was writing] it on Christmas Day because we were starting in January. It was one of those things where you’re like, ‘OK, we’re throwing everything at this and trying to make it work.’ So I’m curious how it’s going to go down.”
“Primetime” adapts Luke Dittrich’s Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die,” which tells the story of a “To Catch a Predator” sting that ended with an assistant district attorney dying by suicide after a SWAT team entered his house.
