Former To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen is not happy about the upcoming film portraying him and his famous show.
Hansen hosted the primetime hidden-camera segments on NBC’s Dateline, during which he and his team identified and confronted alleged predators who attempted to meet minors. Robert Pattison portrays Hansen in the upcoming A24-produced film Primetime, which follows a fictionalized Hansen as he “tries to make television history in 2006,” according to its official description.
The film was made without the TV star’s explicit permission or input, and this week he claimed he was turned away from an advanced screening for refusing to “sign away” his rights.
“The lawyers at A24 wanted me to sign away my rights to my name, image and brand, essentially, as well as any potential legal rights that would come out of the movie,” Hansen alleged on Thursday during an appearance on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime. “I couldn’t sign that, so they didn’t show me the film. I went all the way over there… But who’s going to sign something like that?”
Hansen’s claim follows previous complaints about the film, which he still hasn’t seen, including Pattinson’s casting.
“I didn’t get to choose my own guy,” he said on Tuesday’s Serialously podcast. Hansen also shared that he had been trying to get his own film made about the show. “I always thought—I had discussions years ago, I had crafted a script—Denis Leary [would] play me, depending on the age of it all,” he said.
But A24 beat the star to it. Hansen claimed on Thursday that he was bullied into “signing” away his rights in a “very restrictive agreement” of which he “had never seen anything quite like it,” prior to seeing the film.
A source pushed back on his characterization on Thursday, telling Deadline that Hansen was only asked to sign a standard NDA. “I know other people have seen it who didn’t sign an NDA, and yet they wanted me to sign it,” Hansen told Watters.
He added, “If you look at the trailer, obviously it’s a very dramatized version. They had told me that it’s fictionalized in many aspects.”
Hansen previously recalled first hearing about the project, in which Pattinson tries his hand at the host’s Midwestern accent. “A couple months ago, they came and said, ‘Hey look, we’re doing this, we’d like you to have some sort of consideration in terms of helping us with this,’” he said before claiming he was turned away from the screening.
“As a reporter, it’s sort of silly for me to talk about something that I haven’t seen yet,” he added. “My suspicion is that they used my name because it helps in a commercial enterprise.”
The investigative series was canceled in 2008 following the suicide of a Texas prosecutor during one segment’s live sting operation. NBC was subsequently sued for $105 million. The suit settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
If you or a loved one is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.
