Chris Hansen Weighs Suit Over Pattinson Predator Film

"I mean, obviously I hope he likes the movie," Pattinson said, per Variety. "I never really set out to make a movie about Chris Hansen. I would hope in some ways, like, the amount of inspiration that his character has kind of given certain people who are involved in this [film] for like years now, I hope is some kind of compliment."

Pattinson said the show stuck with him: "I just think there was something about the show that was very groundbreaking, kind of breaking the rules of television."

Hansen has been blunter. "It feels very exploitative to me. It feels sneaky and disingenuous to me," he said on Abrams' podcast, adding of a possible suit: "People are looking at it, Dan." He also asked, "How could they tell the story without having talked to anybody who was directly involved?"

Critics were not gentle about the portrait, but were impressed. The Hollywood Reporter headlined its review by saying viewers "might feel the need to shower" afterward. Variety called it a "lurid horror-movie portrait of a 'Predator'-hunter's predatory instinct" and praised Pattinson's vocal impersonation as "uncanny." Deadline framed it as a "dark TV morality tale."