I hate to say I told you so ... except on those occasions when I can actually say I told you so.
On yesterday's Off the Beaten Path podcast, Christian Toto and I discussed the controversy over a new film purporting to tell the story of Chris Hansen, the reporter who has caught thousands of child predators in stings over the decades. Primetime stars Robert Pattinson in a film that never attempted to involve Hansen himself or seek out his perspective. Hansen has been outspoken about this project for weeks, and the lack of engagement with Hansen has been mystifying. The only reason for A24's approach, I told Christian that the only explanation for locking out Hansen is that they're going to attack him, likely over a suicide by one of the alleged predators that created a controversy for NBC and Hansen at the time.
Today, The Hollywood Reporter confirms that's exactly what the film does. Their reporter confirms that A24 tried to force Hansen to sign an extraordinarily restrictive release and NDA before they would allow him access to the film, which Hansen refused:
Chris Hansen has not seen Primetime, and has no plans to sign anything in order to do so. But following the news out of the film’s Venice Film Festival premiere, the former NBC correspondent has read enough about Robert Pattinson‘s performance and the film’s fictionalized depiction of his work to know that he objects.
Directed by Lance Oppenheim in his narrative feature debut — who’s also grabbing headlines for co-directing with Nathan Fielder the Elizabeth Holmes doc You Can See Everything — and written by Ajon Singh, Primetime dramatizes the 2006 boom year of Dateline NBC‘s To Catch a Predator, when Hansen’s hidden-camera stings became a ratings phenomenon and, eventually, a legal liability. ...
Hansen’s dispute with the studio began well before Venice. In August, he said A24 would screen the film for him only if he signed a nondisclosure agreement that, by his account, would have been unacceptably restrictive. Studio sources called it a standard screening NDA meant to prevent plot leaks. But legal experts shown the agreement by The Hollywood Reporter say that the prohibitive legal language went far beyond that of a boilerplate NDA.
The film apparently centers on the death of William Conrandt, who got caught up in a sting operated by Hansen's team. Conrandt never showed up for his meeting in the sting, however, and Hansen never confronted him, on camera or off. Police got warrants for Conrandt, a former assistant DA, who shot himself when police showed up, THR notes in a lengthy parenthetical added to the transcript of their interview with Hansen. That makes this framing for Primetime even more suspect, since (a) law enforcement conducts similar stings, and (b) Texas had been conducting a parallel operation at the time as well.
When asked by THR whether Hansen regrets what happened with Conrandt, Hansen wonders what exactly he's supposed to regret:
We were completely transparent about what happened from the moments after it happened. This was no secret. It was unfortunate that somebody chose to take his life rather than face criminal consequences. You can draw your own conclusions as to why. They found child pornography on his computer. He had sexually explicit conversations with two different decoys posing as 13-year-old boys.
I can’t speak for the police, but they decided to arrest him, apparently concerned about the possible destruction of evidence. He chose to take his life rather than face the consequences. We reported what we knew the next day on the Today show and continued to be transparent throughout the story.
There are certain things you can’t control. Obviously, you don’t want anybody taking their own life, but that was a decision made by that individual. They’ll ramp it up in the film, I’m sure, and make it more dramatic than it really was. It was based upon an Esquire article that came out years ago that was a bit of a hit piece then, and apparently it’s part of the narrative in the film.
Worth noting: NBC did settle a lawsuit with the Conrandt family for an undisclosed sum, but never admitted liability. That, however, happened 18 years ago, which doesn't exactly make this a hot topic for a biopic – especially one that locks its subject out of development entirely. Hansen went on to continue his career at NBC and then went independent, pursuing predators in similar stings.
So why tell this story now, and why tell it without Hansen? He wonders too, and perhaps offered a glimpse of his thoughts on motives:
I think it’s an insult to the thousands of men and women who work hard every day to protect children from predators. They turn something that is very positive, very challenging and not without risk into what is essentially a horror film.
I guess it’s not surprising that a Hollywood studio would act in such an exploitive or predatory manner. We’re talking about an industry that was led by perhaps one of the biggest predators to walk the planet, Harvey Weinstein. They’ll all pat each other on the back and say, “What a great job. This is really dark and mysterious and intriguing.”
We'll see when the film launches whether Hansen has a case for defamation. In the meantime, though, it certainly does nothing to dispel the Weinstein aura and decades of rumors of Hollywood's predatory culture to see a major studio film attempt to demonize those who expose the predators and sympathize with those who willingly step into the predator traps set by Hansen and by law enforcement.
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