The Man Who Inspired 'Primetime' Has Finally Watched It
Chris Hansen, the former To Catch a Predator host, has seen A24's Primetime, the Lance Oppenheim-helmed thriller now in theaters. The film is based on Esquire's 2007 depiction of Hansen in “Tonight on Dateline.” After weeks of generating free press for the movie — a subject talking about the thing made about him — he caught a screening on Friday and teased his reaction. There is a strange loop in a film that borrows a journalist's image, then gets publicly appraised by the journalist whose image it borrowed.
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The promotion and the criticism are the same act here: the subject's commentary is what brought the film attention in the first place, and it's also the thing audiences will read as a verdict.
He teased a reaction rather than delivering a full review, so treating his remarks as a verdict may be reading more into the screening than is there.