Chris Hansen was told to take a seat. Instead, he took himself out of the screening.
Hansen says he travelled to A24’s offices Thursday for a private 10 a.m. screening of Primetime.
The new film inspired by his controversial hidden-camera series. Instead, Hansen left without watching a single frame after refusing to sign a legal agreement he described as unusually restrictive.
Hansen claimed A24’s lawyers wanted him to sign away rights connected to his name, image and brand, along with potential legal rights arising from the film.
“I couldn’t sign that, so they didn’t show me the film,” Chris Hansen said.
A source close to A24 disputed the characterization, saying Hansen was asked to sign a standard non-disclosure agreement required for preview audiences watching unreleased films.
Hansen, however, said his own lawyers had already reviewed the agreement and advised him not to sign it.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like it,” he said.
Hansen also questioned why the studio waited until production was complete to approach him, particularly given that Primetime draws heavily from his career. The film follows Hansen in 2006 as To Catch a Predator expanded from a recurring Dateline NBC segment into its own primetime programme.
A24 has marketed Primetime as “inspired by true events” rather than a direct biopic of Hansen.
Primetime premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival before opening in cinemas on September 25.
Until then, Hansen may have to find out what Hollywood has done with his story the old-fashioned way: by buying a ticket.
And if he does finally sit down to watch it, he already has the perfect line.
“Take a seat right over there.”
