In order to crack Chris Hansen’s voice for the upcoming A24 movie Primetime, Robert Pattinson revealed to his unique process that probably raised a lot of eyebrows.
In an interview with GQ about the upcoming movie, Pattinson explained that he wandered around city streets and recited disturbing case material aloud to nail the voice of the To Catch a Predator host.
"It's just such a unique voice," Pattinson said. "It was actually incredibly difficult. 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."
The podcast in question is Have A Seat with Chris Hansen. It is still putting out weekly episodes, should Pattinson need material for a sequel.
Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim, examines the production, ethical questions, and media sensationalism behind To Catch a Predator, the NBC series that ran from 2004 to 2007. At the film’s center is a sting operation that ended with an assistant district attorney dying by suicide after a SWAT team entered his home. The script, written by Ajon Singh, draws from Luke Dittrich's Esquire piece "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die."
Pattinson's path to the film began as a producer, not an actor. "I came on as a producer initially," he explained to GQ. "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. 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.'"
Pattinson described the project as something he helped build from scratch. "I remember two Christmases ago, I was on Zoom on Christmas Day for eight hours with Lance and Ajon, who [was writing] it on Christmas Day because we were starting in January," Pattinson said. "It was one of those things where you're like, 'Okay, we're throwing everything at this and trying to make it work.'"
Hansen, for his part, has offered a measured response to the portrayal.
"Obviously he has practiced imitating me, and while I think it's overly dramatic, I think there is a pretty good imitation there in the trailer," he admitted to Entertainment Tonight.
Primetime opens in theaters Sept. 25.
