Primetime: What's Real and What's Fake in the Chris Hansen Movie

Primetime is a wild watch, and I wanted to dig into exactly what the movie invented and what it pulled straight from real life. There is a lot in this film that is dramatized for effect, but there is also a surprising amount that actually happened, right down to the ending.

The Assistant And The God Complex Were Fabricated

The assistant to Chris Hansen in the film, Andy, was not a real person. That character was fabricated to represent the studio pressure that was sitting on Hansen's back during the operation, giving the film a stand in for the behind the scenes tension rather than a real crew member.

Hansen has commented several times saying he was never mean to his crew or raised his voice the way he is portrayed doing in the film. That is a direct pushback from him on how his behavior on set was depicted.

Robert Pattinson's portrayal of Hansen having a god complex has also been called out by Hansen as, in his words, a complete work of fiction and an insult to the work he and his crew put in over the years. He has argued the movie turned him into a villain, which he says he is not.

Dan Plum Was Heavily Dramatized

The decoy character Dan Plum is heavily dramatized in the film. He is based on a real life decoy from the show, but his specific arc, treating the sting operation as a way to get his SAG card, was fake and did not happen in reality.

That invented motivation is one of the clearer examples of the film taking a real role from the show and building a fictional personal story around it for drama.

The Show Felt Like A Public Service, The Movie Feels Like Horror

While the actual show felt like a public service to viewers at the time it aired, the director turned this film into more of a psychological horror movie. It leans into a claustrophobic feeling that heightens the events until they play like a fever dream rather than a straightforward retelling.

The Chat Logs And Sting Scenes Are Real

A lot of this movie is accurate. The chat logs are real, as are the scenes with Chris Hansen in the rooms confronting the men who show up. Many of the different situations and sting operations in the film are portrayed the same way they were shown on the original program.

Dell, the girl who appears as another decoy in the movie and who we do not learn much about, was a real person. On the actual show, she portrayed both boys and girls in the online chats used to lure predators.

The Ending Is Real, Just Moved To A Thunderstorm

Besides taking place during a thunderstorm in the movie instead of the morning, the ending is actually real, even if the events were made a little more dramatic for the screen.

In November 2006, the Dateline crew did travel to Texas and identified an assistant district attorney as one of the predators. When he did not show up to the sting house, local police and SWAT teams raided his actual home, where he took his own life.

The crew from the show did break some protocol in hoping to get an interview with him, but they did not blame themselves for what happened. There was a wrongful death lawsuit that followed and was settled with the studio and the man's family, but that lawsuit did not end To Catch a Predator. The show slowly became less popular on its own and was shut down in 2008.

The Director's Idea Came From A Chris Hansen Cameo

Something interesting about this movie is that the director, Lance Oppenheim, got the idea for it from his wife, who had bought him a cameo from Chris Hansen. He found it interesting how dramatic Hansen was with his famous "take a seat" line.

That cameo sparked his interest and led him to research a lot about Hansen and how such a serious topic had turned into a performative television persona, which became the seed for the film.

Chris Hansen Is Not A Fan Of The Film

I have been looking into Hansen's reaction to this movie, and he is not a huge fan of it. From what I am hearing, at the time of making this piece he was planning to see the film that night, so I am curious to see what he ends up saying about it on his own network, True Blue.

Hansen has said he was asked by A24 to participate in the film, but he did not want to sign any NDAs. I believe he will end up reacting to the movie on his own network and gathering a lot of different reactions from people there instead.

He was not paid any money for the studio to make a movie about him, which is kind of sad, honestly. What is interesting is that he is now running ads for his True Blue network before every single showing of the film in every theater in the United States. He has said he has lost more money than he has made from this film, but he is hoping it helps grow his other network.

What did you think of Primetime, and did anything in it surprise or shock you?