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It will take you a minute to recognize Robert Pattinson’s voice in the new teaser trailer for Primetime (watch below), A24’s upcoming film in which he stars as broadcast journalist Chris Hansen, the face of the former Dateline NBC series To Catch a Predator. This has become something of a signature for the guy who’s brought wild vocal flair to everything from The Devil All the Time to Mickey 17 to Good Time.
Here, the British actor appears to take on Hansen’s vocal patterns and tics with an eerie, off-kilter precision, as those familiar with the infamous true-crime host can attest. While a very small glimpse into what the characterization will look like — with an even shorter visual introduction — the trailer indicates that more chameleonic work from Pattinson is on the way.
Primetime is directed by the acclaimed documentarian Lance Oppenheim (Some Kind of Heaven, Ren Faire) in his narrative feature debut, and marks Pattinson’s first full feature-producing credit. It’s set in 2006, the year in which the bulk of the series’ episodes aired. (To Catch a Predator premiered in 2004.) The show, which followed Hansen and his crew working with law enforcement and hiring “decoys” to trap and arrest alleged pedophiles, emerged as a kind of queasy cultural phenomenon, drawing millions of viewers to the reliable template of Hansen catching bad guys on camera.
