On Friday, A24 released Primetime, Lance Oppenheim's narrative feature debut, a film that earned a seven-minute ovation at the Venice Film Festival in September. By Saturday, the man the film is built around had watched it and issued his verdict.
Chris Hansen, the former NBC host of To Catch a Predator, watched Primetime on opening weekend and gave Robert Pattinson's performance a D grade. According to TMZ, Hansen said: "98% of that movie that I just saw was pure fiction." He described Pattinson's portrayal as "so detached, so unhinged, so dark, so unlikable," and said the production made the actor look "like a character in a horror film. There's all kinds of green hue on his face."
On the grade itself: "Tough grade, but I'm kind of the only guy that counts in this one," Hansen said.
Critics disagreed. Primetime holds an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes as of opening weekend, with reviewers calling Pattinson's work extraordinary. The film opened to $8.5 million against a $14.5 million budget.
Oppenheim, who also directed Ren Faire for HBO and You Can See Everything alongside Nathan Fielder, told Hansen the project was a "love letter." Hansen said that description changed his perspective on Hollywood, without specifying in which direction.
Primetime is based on the 2007 Esquire article "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die" by Luke Dittrich, centering on a 2006 sting operation involving assistant district attorney Bill Conradt. Robert Pattinson and Ari Aster produced.
