Robert Pattinson incarne le journaliste controversé Chris Hansen dans « Primetime », un thriller d’A24 réalisé par Lance Oppenheim qui décortique les méthodes musclées et l’impact de l’émission à succès « To Catch a Predator ». Présenté à la Mostra de Venise, le film interroge la frontière entre journalisme d’investigation et spectacle télévisuel.
Le réalisateur Lance Oppenheim signe avec « Primetime » un premier long-métrage de fiction qui s’attaque à un phénomène culturel marquant des années 2000. Le film retrace l’ascension de l’émission « To Catch a Predator », diffusée au sein du programme « Dateline NBC » entre 2004 et 2007. Portée par le journaliste d’investigation Chris Hansen, l’émission mettait en scène des opérations d’infiltration destinées à piéger des adultes suspectés de pédophilie sur Internet. The film is inspired by the true story of Chris Hansen, an Emmy-winning American journalist, and his most famous television show, To Catch a Predator, which ran as part of Dateline NBC from 2004 to 2007. The programme staged sting operations aimed at would-be paedophiles, where staff would pose as minors in online conversations with adult men and arrange meetings.
Robert Pattinson dans le rôle de Chris Hansen
Sous les traits de Chris Hansen, Robert Pattinson livre une performance saluée par la critique pour sa précision vocale et son intensité. Le film dépeint le présentateur comme un ambitieux obsédé par ses audiences, cherchant constamment à damner le pion à son collègue Stone Phillips et gérant son équipe avec une rigueur implacable. Robert Pattinson is equal parts cracked and chilling as host Chris Hansen, portraying him as a ruthless ratings hunter with a grandiosity complex and a chip on his shoulder because he’s not Stone Phillips.
Le véritable Chris Hansen s’est montré très critique envers le film, qu’il juge « overly dramatic » après avoir visionné la bande-annonce, tout en précisant qu’il n’avait pas signé l’accord de non-divulgation demandé par le studio A24. Le real-life Hansen has been vocal in his skepticism of the movie, which he said he hasn’t seen because he declined to sign a standard NDA from the studio, A24. Based on the trailer, he finds Pattinson’s portrayal « overly dramatic » and questioned Hollywood’s motives in dramatizing the popular Dateline NBC series. He did, however, admit that his family « seem to think it’s a pretty good imitation. » At a Saturday press conference, Pattinson stated: « Obviously, I hope he likes the movie. There’s something electrifying about him. I would hope the amount of inspiration his character has given a lot of people for years is some kind of compliment. »
A24 dropped the full trailer for Primetime on August 6, ahead of its theatrical release on September 25. The A24 film is set to chart the rise and fall of the American TV presenter who soared to fame in the Noughties hosting To Catch A Predator, which revolved around catching potential child molesters using a sting operation. On the Dateline series, a man was lured to an appointed location by the offer of a sexual encounter with a supposed minor who turned out in fact to be one of Chris’ adult decoys, after which Chris would appear on the scene and expose the meet-up as a sting operation with authorities poised nearby to make an arrest. Despite bringing in high ratings, many ethical and legal concerns were raised over the nature of the sting operations it depicted, in particular potential violations of entrapment laws, and TCAP was ultimately scrapped in 2007.
Entre spectacle télévisuel et questions éthiques
Primetime is described as a morbidly fascinating inquiry into performative justice, moral superiority and public shaming as crude fuel for reality television, presenting a superficially fictionalized account of Dateline NBC’s controversial To Catch a Predator, or as Jimmy Kimmel once called it, « Punk’d for pedophiles. » The targets Hansen went after were legitimate sex offenders, soliciting what they believed were children in online chatrooms. While many have protested that every human being deserves empathy, no one’s going to feel sorry for a bunch of creeps preying on girls and boys as young as 13 for sex, though the methods used in the show’s sting operations uncomfortably skirt dubious boundaries.
When Skyler Gisondo turns up in « Primetime » as « Decoy Dan » Plum, an aspiring 23-year-old actor cast to play teenage bait for an unsuspecting pedophile, the camera captures his face in extreme close-up as Dan processes what he’s gotten himself into, attempts to make small talk with the predator, and finally flees off set to shed a shaken tear. The suspect, meanwhile, is treated as a punchline who truly captures the camera’s attention when he drops trou, rips the top off a canister of whipped cream, and sprays.
The dark-but-oddly-zany bio-thriller is directed by documentarian Lance Oppenheim in his fiction feature debut. Alongside Robert Pattinson, the trailer and cast list tease roles including The Office star Creed Bratton — whose appearance has been confirmed via his Instagram post — and singer Phoebe Bridgers.
Aux côtés de Robert Pattinson, la distribution réunit des profils surprenants. La musicienne Phoebe Bridgers y fait ses débuts d’actrice dans le rôle de Del, tandis que Skyler Gisondo complète la distribution en incarnant Dan Plum, un jeune acteur recruté comme appât et confronté au vertige de sa mission. Réalisé par Lance Oppenheim, dont c’est le premier passage à la fiction après des documentaires remarqués, « Primetime » sort en salles le 25 septembre, s’imposant d’ores et déjà comme l’un des objets cinématographiques les plus singuliers et dérangeants de la saison.