Robert Pattinson film revisits To Catch a Predator’s ethics and legacy
A new film called Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson as journalist Chris Hansen, examines the controversial 2000s television show To Catch a Predator. The film explores ethical questions about justice, voyeurism and society's willingness to exploit offenders for entertainment, with the real Hansen dismissing the movie as an "insult" and "identity theft" without having seen it.
To Catch a Predator was a major ratings success on Dateline NBC during the mid-2000s, averaging 7 million viewers per episode by 2006-07. The show featured sting operations where volunteers from the watchdog group Perverted Justice posed as underage children online, luring men to fake houses where they would be confronted by Hansen and arrested. The operation took a fatal turn in 2006 when an assistant district attorney in Texas killed himself during a sting, leading to a lawsuit and the show's cancellation by 2008. The programme has since inspired critical documentaries and films exploring its complex legacy around voyeurism and human discomfort.
- New film starring Pattinson explores controversial sting-operation TV show's legacy
- Show averaged 7 million viewers before a fatal tragedy in 2006
- Raises questions about voyeurism and profiting from others' suffering
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Originally published by The Guardian as “‘In our deepest hearts we are voyeurs’: the paedophile-hunting show that inspired Robert Pattinson’s new film”.