Robert Pattinson’s Terrifying New Movie After The Odyssey Eyes Best Actor at Oscars

A24 dropped the full trailer for Primetime, and it is not an easy watch. Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen, the Dateline NBC journalist whose To Catch a Predator stings became one of the strangest television programs of the 2000s. Pattinson has the voice down cold, with the flat delivery, the folder in hand, and the line that eventually became a meme: “Why don’t you have a seat right there?”

But the trailer hints at something far darker underneath the impression. The A24 adaptation of the original events takes a satirical turn, showing a man who is not doing a job, but rather a man who has started to enjoy the hunt. Fresh off playing Antinous in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Pattinson may have finally found the role that puts him in the Best Actor conversation.

What Do We Know About Robert Pattinson’s Primetime?

Primetime hits theaters on September 25, but a select few viewers will be able to see it much sooner than that. The film premieres in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, which is about as strong a launchpad as a fall release can ask for.

It marks the narrative feature debut of Lance Oppenheim, a documentary filmmaker best known for Some Kind of Heaven, Spermworld, and HBO’s Ren Faire. Ajon Singh wrote the screenplay, adapting an article by Luke Dittrich.

Robert Pattinson also produces, alongside a team that includes Ari Aster and his Square Peg banner. The story is set in 2006, when Hansen sets out to make television history. The trailer follows that ambition rather than the crimes.

Former NBCUniversal chief Jeff Zucker appears as himself, telling Hansen he does not much care for the show but that America clearly does, right before bumping it to primetime. Hansen then celebrates in a hallway, thrilled that he might soon be bigger than Lost.

The most unsettling beat is quieter. Coaching one of his decoy actors, played by Superman‘s Skyler Gisondo, Pattinson’s Hansen tells him the work is more than acting, and that he is cleansing the world. Merritt Wever plays a producer working beside him. The rest of the cast includes Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, and musician Phoebe Bridgers in her acting debut.

The real history gives the film its shadow. To Catch a Predator ran as a Dateline segment from 2004 to 2007, partnering with the watchdog group Perverted Justice to lure men to decoy houses. It collapsed after a November 2006 sting in Murphy, Texas, where assistant district attorney Bill Conradt took his own life as police and the camera crew arrived. NBC cancelled the show in 2008 following a lawsuit and an investigation by ABC’s 20/20.

Robert Pattinson’s Chris Hansen Might Enter the Best Actor Oscar Race

Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen in a still from Primetime | Credits: A24

Robert Pattinson’s magnetic performance as Chris Hansen in the trailer may earn him a place in the stacked Best Actor Oscar race. Matt Damon currently leads most prediction boards for The Odyssey, with Tom Cruise close behind for Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger.

Behind them sit Ryan Gosling for Project Hail Mary, Sebastian Stan for Fjord, John Malkovich for Wild Horse Nine, Andrew Scott for Elsinore, and John Turturro for The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. Pattinson’s case is straightforward. Voters have always liked a real-person transformation, and this is one built on a voice and a face millions already recognise.

The Twilight actor is also long overdue for a major recognition, with a career built on bold and strange choices. The risk is just as clear, as the subject matter is genuinely uncomfortable. It turns a real-life incident into a horror story that may split the room. A September release also means a long campaign to sustain.

Do you think Primetime is finally the film that gets Robert Pattinson his first Oscar nomination? Let us know in the comments.

The movie will be released in theaters on September 25, 2026.