Your complete Primetime cast guide before watching the new Robert Pattinson movie

Primetime is Lance Oppenheim's latest psychological crime thriller starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the American television presenter, journalist, and YouTube personality, best known as the former host of NBC's To Catch a Predator.

Based on Luke Dittrich's 2007 Esquire article Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die, the film delves into the chaotic behind-the-scenes world of producing the early 2000s reality sting series To Catch a Predator. The Robert Pattinson-starring thriller chronicles how Chris Hansen pushed legal and moral boundaries and transitioned a simple Dateline segment into a highly demanded television series on the primetime slot, which eventually competed with ABC's Lost.

In addition to Pattinson, the film stars Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, and Phoebe Bridgers in key roles.

Here's the complete cast guide to Lance Oppenheim's latest film.

Primetime cast: Robert Pattinson transforms into Chris Hansen

Robert Pattinson leads the Primetime cast as Chris Hansen, a correspondent for Dateline NBC, who headlined the series To Catch a Predator from 2004 to 2007. The reality television series follows Hansen as he catches potential online predators using a sting operation.

Reportedly, Robert Pattinson did not set out to play Chris Hansen. The Drama actor was initially attached to Lance Oppenheim's project as a producer. But curiosity got the best of Pattinson when he watched a 2018 podcast episode between the journalist and comedian Theo Von. Speaking with USA Today, Pattinson revealed that he was intrigued by Hansen's reply when asked whether he goes to therapy, which eventually convinced him to play the journalist in the film.

The film follows Chris Hansen as he fights to secure a primetime television slot for NBC’s To Catch a Predator. Robert Pattinson is best known for carefully stepping into the world of his characters, which is on full display in Lance Oppenheim's film. Speaking with USA Today, the actor reflected on how he repeatedly studied and recited Hansen's podcast, Have a Seat With Chris Hansen, to prepare for his latest role:

“I must have listened to every single episode about 100 times. Initially, I didn’t really think of his voice as being such an integral part of his persona. … But you can really tell when you’re doing it wrong or right... I had to stay in this [voice] quite a lot because, for some reason, I found it very complicated.”

Pattinson prepared for Chris Hansen's role while working on Lynne Ramsay's psychological film Die My Love, Kristoffer Borgli's romantic dark film The Drama and Christopher Nolan's epic action fantasy The Odyssey.

Meet the supporting cast of Primetime

A still from the trailer (Image via YouTube/A24)

In addition to Robert Pattinson, the film features the following supporting cast:

1) Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie) as Andie Bender: Chris Hansen's producer at Dateline NBC who prioritizes ratings above all else

2) Skyler Gisondo (Licorice Pizza) as Dan Plum: A young aspiring actor hired for the show's sting operations who deeply admires Hansen

3) Matthew Maher (Bringing Out the Dead) as Xavier Von Erck, an online vigilante and the founder of Perverted-Justice

4) Anna Faris (Scary Movie) as Mary Joan Hansen, Chris Hansen's wife

5) Alex Winter (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) as Bill Conradt, assistant district attorney of Rockwall County and To Catch a Predator's latest target

6) Phoebe Bridgers as Del Harvey: The character is based on the real person, a former volunteer for Perverted-Justice

Rounding out the Primetime cast are actors Tony Revolori, Jonathan Lipnicki, David Fierro and filmmakers Caveh Zahedi, Jason Woliner, and Eugene Kotlyarenko as child predators caught on To Catch a Predator.