Robert Pattinson responds to Chris Hansen's criticism of his 'Primetime' portrayal

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Robert Pattinson is responding after Chris Hansen criticized his latest film, 'Primetime,' which draws inspiration from Hansen's 'To Catch a Predator' series.

Pattinson addressed the matter during his appearance at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, speaking at a press conference for the Lance Oppenheim-directed A24 thriller. The 'Twilight' actor plays Hansen in the film and discussed his reaction to the journalist's comments.

Robert Pattinson reflects on portraying Chris Hansen in 'Primetime'

“Obviously, I hope he likes the movie,” Pattinson said, according to a video posted to Instagram by People.

Pattinson explained that he never initially intended to make a movie specifically about Hansen. “I never really set out to make a movie about Chris Hansen. I never really thought about it, and then I saw the script, and there’s something electrifying about it,” he said.

The actor added that he hoped Hansen could view the inspiration behind the character as a compliment. “I would hope, in some ways, the amount of inspiration that his character has given so many people who are involved in this for years now … I hope it’s some kind of compliment.”

Pattinson also recalled watching Hansen's Dateline NBC series when he was younger and described something about the journalist's presence as “magnetic.”

“Something he’s doing is the reason why people are still talking about that show 20 years later, and it’s not solely to do with the subject matter,” he said.

“I just think there was something about the show that was very groundbreaking … kind of breaking the rules of television and also, in some ways, bureaucracy,” Pattinson continued. Even after watching what he described as “literally thousands of hours” of material connected to the series, he said he “still can’t really put his finger on” what made it so popular.

According to Pattinson, 'Primetime' instead sought to capture the filmmakers' “collective enthusiasm” for Hansen's mystery.

Chris Hansen questions Robert Pattinson's casting in 'Primetime'

In August, Hansen revealed on the 'Serialously' podcast that Pattinson would not have been his first choice to portray him if he had been able to “choose [his] own guy.” Hansen recalled that he had previously discussed a script and had considered Denis Leary for the role.

“I always thought … I had discussions years ago, I had crafted a script … Denis Leary [would] play me, depending on the age of it all,” Hansen said.

Hansen acknowledged Pattinson's popularity as an actor but admitted that he still had questions about “Hollywood’s motives” for making the film. “Obviously, they want a commercial endeavor to succeed, and they think this is the way it’s going to succeed,” he said, referring to Pattinson's casting.

While Hansen said A24 staffers have been perfectly pleasant and that he has faith the movie will be fair, he also indicated that he was prepared to be disappointed.

“When someone makes a movie about you but won’t let you see it, you do have to wonder why they won’t let you see it,” Hansen said of the film, which is based on the 2007 Esquire article, “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die.”