It can take you a minute to acknowledge Robert Pattinson’s voice within the new teaser trailer for Primetime (watch under), A24’s upcoming movie by which he stars as broadcast journalist Chris Hansen, the face of the previous Dateline NBC sequence To Catch a Predator. This has grow to be one thing of a signature for the man who’s introduced wild vocal aptitude to every part from The Satan All of the Time to Mickey 17 to Good Time.
Right here, the British actor seems to tackle Hansen’s vocal patterns and tics with an eerie, off-kilter precision, as these conversant in the notorious true-crime host can attest. Whereas a really small glimpse into what the characterization will appear to be — with a good shorter visible introduction — the trailer signifies that extra chameleonic work from Pattinson is on the way in which.
Primetime is directed by the acclaimed documentarian Lance Oppenheim (Some Form of Heaven, Ren Faire) in his narrative characteristic debut, and marks Pattinson’s first full feature-producing credit. It’s set in 2006, the yr by which the majority of the sequence’ episodes aired. (To Catch a Predator premiered in 2004.) The present, which adopted Hansen and his crew working with legislation enforcement and hiring “decoys” to lure and arrest alleged pedophiles, emerged as a form of queasy cultural phenomenon, drawing tens of millions of viewers to the dependable template of Hansen catching dangerous guys on digicam.
However 2006 was additionally the yr when a goal of To Catch a Predator named Invoice Conradt shot and killed himself, proper as officers and the movie crew entered his dwelling — a stunning tragedy that led to the top of the present. It’s not clear what floor Primetime will cowl, however listening to Pattinson’s Hansen say with chilling conviction within the trailer, “I’m Chris Hansen with Dateline NBC, and you’re about to be a part of television history,” signifies that this received’t be the sunniest of portraits.
This shall be Pattinson’s second A24 film of the yr following The Drama, for which his anxiously humane flip earned among the finest evaluations of his profession. (THR’s review mentioned, “Pattinson gives a natural, appealing performance, convincingly playing a relatively normal guy…who begins to realize that his comfortable life with his quirky dream girl is not nearly as settled, or normal, as he once thought.”) That film, like Primetime, affirms that the Twilight alum isn’t taking part in it secure in his selections — giving massive, complicated performances to match provocative materials from idiosyncratic filmmakers.
And nonetheless, Pattinson’s yr is simply getting began, persevering with to combine high-end blockbuster fare with sharp-edged auteur tasks. He’s obtained a significant function in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey because the conceited Antinous, will play a brand new antagonist to Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreidis in Dune: Part Three, and stars reverse Denzel Washington in Netflix’s Here Comes the Flood. Oh, and he’s now leaping into filming on Matt Reeves’ sequel to The Batman, in case you have been anxious about him slowing down.
Primetime shall be launched in theaters this fall. The movie co-stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers in her characteristic debut. You can too try the poster under.
A24
