As an actor, Jeff Zucker makes for a good TV executive. So when he was approached by “Primetime” filmmaker Lance Oppenheim to play “Jeff Zucker” in the new A24 movie, the real Jeff Zucker couldn’t resist.
“Primetime” stars Robert Pattinson as former “Dateline NBC” reporter Chris Hansen, whose segment on the newsmagazine executed sting operations designed to catch child predators. Soon, “To Catch a Predator” was a phenomenon — but it also led to controversy, which the film tackles.
In the film, then-NBCUniversal TV Group CEO Jeff Zucker is seen congratulating Hansen on his success. “I don’t really like your show,” Zucker says in the cameo, as seen in the “Primetime” trailer. “But America loves it. So I need to move you, ‘To Catch a Predator’ — 9 p.m. Primetime!”
Yep, he actually says the movie’s title — almost guaranteeing that he wouldn’t end up on the cutting room floor. And he didn’t. Variety recently caught up with Zucker — who will be attending the “Primetime” premiere at the Venice Film Festival this weekend — to get the details on how he wound up playing Jeff Zucker in a major motion picture.
What are you doing, Jeff? How did this happen? Who reached out?
