Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime finally hits theaters today (Sept. 25), but one thing’s been clear since we first learned of the A24 project: Robert Pattinson, playing To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, has another absolute banger on his hands.
But amid the hoopla, and the inevitable memes, there remains one person who has been decidedly less than thrilled: Hansen himself.
Ahead of the film’s theatrical release, Pattheads were informed that Hansen had made the move of buying ads that are set to air before screenings of the acclaimed thriller, which joins The Drama and The Odyssey among what is undeniably a generational run for Pattinson. Hansen also suggested what sounds like an openness to the possibility of pursuing some sort of legal action, though what that might look like isn’t clear. He has since seen the film, arguing that it’s “detached from reality.”
Generally speaking, it is perfectly legal to embark on making a movie about a public figure without their explicit consent to do so. Still, Hansen isn’t the first person to go public with a stark lack of enthusiasm over a movie (or series) about them.
Below, we take a closer look at a few other noteworthy examples, starting with the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Pam & Tommy, based on a Rolling Stone article about the leak of a stolen sex tape featuring former real-life couple Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.
Pamela Anderson
Anderson made her stance on Pam & Tommy clear on multiple occasions, including in her 2023 documentary Pamela, a Love Story. While she considered the series’ producers “assholes,” she did not direct any disdain toward star Lily James, who portrayed her in the Hulu hit.
The series, though well-received critically, was also met with comparisons of its creation to the circumstances surrounding the sex tape leak at the center of its plot.
Jada Pinkett Smith
Similarly, Jada Pinkett Smith, portrayed by Kat Graham in the critically panned 2017 2Pac biopic All Eyez on Me, had kind words for the performance itself. As for the film, she argued that it included several historical inaccuracies, calling its “reimagining” of her relationship to Pac “deeply hurtful.”
Mark Zuckerberg
The Facebook and Meta co-founder, played by Jesse Eisenberg in David Fincher’s Aaron Sorkin-penned The Social Network, said back in 2014 that he found the critically praised film’s portrayal of him “kind of hurtful.” At the time, he suggested that he hadn’t put much energy into thinking about the film, only to address it again over a decade later by labeling its central story “completely wrong.”
Interestingly, Mark Zuckerberg now finds himself being depicted by a different actor, Jeremy Strong, in this year’s The Social Reckoning, written and directed by Sorkin.
Lil’ Kim
Needless to say, Lil’ Kim was not a fan of Notorious, George Tillman Jr.’s 2009 drama depicting the life of the late Biggie Smalls. In it, Kim is played by Naturi Naughton, much to her chagrin.
“I hated everything about that movie,” Kim said back in 2019, though this isn’t the only time she’s expressed her fervent disapproval of the film.
More recently, Kim slammed Notorious as “not accurate,” adding that her own upcoming movie would right what she sees as its many wrongs.
The Gucci family
There are, without question, some compelling performances in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, which counts everyone from Lady Gaga (as Patrizia Reggiani) to Al Pacino (as Aldo Gucci) among its ensemble cast. But a lot of it, sad to say, simply doesn’t work.
As for the Guccis themselves, they were “truly disappointed” by Scott’s film, according to Patrizia Gucci, daughter to Paolo (played by Jared Leto).
“I speak on behalf of the family,’’ Patrizia said ahead of the film’s release in 2021. “They are stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system. … Our family has an identity, privacy. We can talk about everything, but there is a borderline that cannot be crossed.”
Michael Oher
Sandra Bullock picked up an Oscar for her performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side, which has been widely criticized since its 2009 release as an example of the perpetuation of the “white savior” cinematic trope.
For those somehow unfamiliar, The Blind Side, based on the book of the same name, tells the story of Black football player Michael Oher, who, in the film, is taken in by the Tuohys, a white family. The real-life Oher, however, has roundly disputed how he was depicted in the film.
Oher, now a retired NFL player with a Super Bowl championship to his name, would ultimately allege that he was duped into signing a conservatorship agreement with the Tuohys. He has also criticized the film as inaccurately portraying him as “dumb” and initially unknowledgeable about football, despite having been “really studying” it since he was a child.
Julian Assange
The Fifth Estate, released in 2013 and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was always going to be a shit-stirrer. But it’s unlikely the team behind the film could have imagined the sheer amount of shit that would be stirred in the process, which included, but is not limited to, the leaking of a script (through WikiLeaks, of course) and direct communication from Assange to Cumberbatch aimed at convincing the actor to exit the project.
And with this, we are brought full-circle, as Pamela Anderson was famously a very public advocate for Assange, including during his time in prison, at one point urging the artist formerly known as Kanye West to use his platform to call further attention to the situation in the name of free speech.
