In Primetime, Robert Pattinson’s Chris Hansen is haunted by a strange demonic figure that appears throughout the film, but was there actually a real demon haunting the To Catch a Predator host? Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen, the real-life host of To Catch a Predator, in A24’s Primetime. It’s a fictionalised take on the story behind the infamous NBC show. The film follows Hansen as he gets more and more caught up in hunting predators, and it uses some pretty surreal scenes to show what is going on in his head. One of the biggest examples is the creepy demon that keeps appearing throughout the film. So, was Chris Hansen really haunted by a demon? Credit: A24 No. The demon is a fictional part of Primetime and is used to represent Hansen’s psychological state in the film. Primetime editor Daniel Garber explained to Vanity Fair that the film’s “fantastical [fever dream] elements” were one of the reasons it was clearly not meant to be a standard biopic. He said, “The fantastical [fever dream] elements made it so clear to me that it was far from being a standard biopic, which is exactly why it was such a natural fit for Lance.” For Garber, the strange sequences were basically a way of showing what was going on inside the character’s mind. He explained that, because Chris is “larger-than-life and sometimes emotionally inscrutable”, the filmmakers wanted to find a visual way to show his psychological landscape. “A literal demon figure haunting him was our way of making concrete the ‘ancient evil’ he can’t stop chasing,” Garber said. Why does the demon appear during the hunt for Conradt? Credit: A24 The demon becomes even more important as Primetime gets closer to its climax. The film follows Hansen and his team as they pursue Bill Conradt, the Texas assistant district attorney who becomes the focus of one of the To Catch a Predator stings. Garber said the film deliberately connects the demon to the specific predator Hansen and his team are pursuing. He explained, “In the lead-up to the climax, the film draws a visual connection between the demon and the specific predator they’re pursuing, but even after Conradt’s death, the creature is still there.” If the demon had disappeared once Conradt was dead, it could have suggested that Hansen had finally defeated the evil he was chasing. Instead, the creature remains, showing that the obsession has not actually gone away. Garber said this conclusion shows that Chris “will never be able to fully vanquish evil.” And that he will instead be “stuck in a loop, eternally pursuing this spectre.” What does the demon actually represent? Credit: A24 According to Garber, the demon is really about Hansen’s relationship with the idea of evil. Rather than showing a literal supernatural creature from Hansen’s real life, Primetime turns his internal fears and obsession into something the audience can actually see. That is why the creature continues to appear even after Conradt’s death. The film is basically asking whether Hansen’s pursuit of predators has become something that he can never switch off. The demon becomes a visual representation of that cycle. Garber said, “[The ending] asks a question of the audience too: What is the cost of giving in to the things that are haunting us?” For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page. Post navigation Next story
