How Robert Pattinson cracked Chris Hansen’s voice for ‘Primetime’

Robert Pattinson had no intention of playing Chris Hansen.

Initially, the “Odyssey” actor was merely set to produce “Primetime” (in theaters Sept. 25), a hellish dive into the dark underbelly of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” the controversial mid-2000s reality series dedicated to trapping and exposing alleged pedophiles.

But Pattinson eventually decided to suit up as Hansen after stumbling upon a 2018 podcast episode between the well-coiffed “Dateline” journalist and comedian Theo Von.

“Theo was asking him: ‘Do you ever go to therapy?’ ” Pattinson, 40, recalls. “His answer to that made me want to do [the film]. He basically said, ‘No, I just bury everything really, really deep down inside.’

“When you see someone who looks like they’re very poised all the time, your natural instinct is to think: ‘What’s behind the poise?’ ” he adds. “There was something mysterious to me about such an innocuous answer that it really pressed on my curiosity.”

Directed by Lance Oppenheim, “Primetime” imagines Hansen’s insatiable quest to have the No. 1 show on TV, finding queasy new ways to sensationalize coverage and exploit potential predators for an audience of millions. But the thriller also examines the collateral damage of his success, from…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/