Robert Pattinson did ‘Primetime’ because the director bribed him with 200 Zyn canisters

Director Lance Oppenheim convinced Robert Pattinson to star in Primetime by sending him 200 packets of Zyn pouches

• READ MORE: ‘Primetime’ review: Robert Pattinson and Phoebe Bridgers team up to catch a predator

Primetime sees Pattinson play a version of To Catch A Predator host Chris Hansen. The movie, directed by Oppenheim, is based on the Esquire article ‘Tonight On Dateline This Man Will Die’ which details the botched sting operation that resulted in one man committing suicide.

According to a new interview with Vulture, Pattison was originally only supposed to produce Primetime but Oppenheim wanted him to play Hansen. Screenplay writer Ajon Singh spent a week rewriting the script to try and get him to change his mind while Oppenheim took a more direct approach.

“Rob, at the time, was grappling with a Zyn addiction,” the director explained. At the time though, there was reportedly a shortage of the nicotine pouches in the US, so he got a friend to send 200 cases from Canada alongside the latest draft of the script. Oppenheim addressed it all to “Chris Han-Zyn”.

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When Pattinson called to say he was in, “it was like LeBron making the announcement that he was joining the Heat,” said Oppenheim.

Elsewhere in the article, Oppenheim described Primetime as a “fever dream” and an “elaborate form of fan fiction” rather than a conventional biopic but Hansen has heavily criticised the movie.

“Obviously, I’m not objective because the character is me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I’ve ever experienced then or now doing the investigations. I’m not sure what the point of it was,” he said in a video posted on X.

Speaking to Fox News’ Jesse Watters on the Have A Seat podcast, Hansen gave Pattinson’s performance a “D” and claimed the film was mostly fictional. “What bothered me most was it portrayed me as an aloof, detached father to my sons, which was so far from reality, and for them to do that really is just a cheap shot with no entertainment, literary or benefit to any viewer or society,” he explained. “It’s just mean-spirited, untrue and unworthy of the viewer’s time.”