Is ‘Primetime’ a true story? We fact-check the Chris Hansen thriller

Spoiler alert! We're discussing major details about the plot of "Primetime" (in theaters now). Stop reading if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to know what happens.

Chris Hansen has a lot of thoughts about "Primetime."

The new movie portrays the former "To Catch a Predator" host in a state of psychosis, compulsive in his pursuit of trapping alleged pedophiles and ruling the airwaves. Ahead of the film's release, Hansen told USA TODAY that the neon-drenched thriller is a "complete work of fiction." And after watching "Primetime," "I'm not sure what the point was," he said on his podcast Sept. 25, giving star Robert Pattinson a "D" for his performance.

So who are the real people portrayed in "Primetime?" And what actually happened behind the scenes of the lightning-rod NBC series? Here's what's fact and fiction:

"Primetime" screenwriter Ajon Singh declines to get into specifics about the actual decoys who inspired the film, while Merritt Wever ‒ who plays cutthroat “Predator” producer Andie Bender ‒ says that she spoke to many different kinds of TV producers in prepping for the film.

“I talked to them about the stickiness of the interpersonal stuff that happens with the host,”…

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