Why the ‘Primetime’ Cast Had No Idea What the Finished Crime Thriller Would Look Like

• Collider's Steve Weintraub talks with Merritt Wever and Skyler Gisondo for Primetime.
• The duo discuss Pattinson’s unpredictable, cliff-jumping takes and how it affected their own performances.
• Gisondo and Wever also tease their future projects, DC's Jimmy Olsen spin-off series and J.J. Abrams' The Great Beyond.

The stars of A24’s Primetime tell Collider’s Steve Weintraub that even they weren’t sure what movie they would see at the film’s premiere. Documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim’s blend of grainy footage and funhouse aesthetics combined with producer and lead Robert Pattinson’s kinetic, escalating performance keeps audiences off-kilter, and it’s that perfect storm that kept its cast guessing with every take, according to co-stars Merritt Wever and Skyler Gisondo.

In Primetime, Pattinson plays television host Chris Hansen as he and his team, including producer Andie Bender (Wever) and “Decoy” Dan Plumb (Gisondo), set their sights on a primetime television slot for their sensational segment To Catch a Predator. The movie also stars Anna Faris, Alex Winter, Phoebe Bridgers, and Bokeem Woodbine.

In this interview, Wever and Gisondo share stories from the set about Pattinson’s unpredictable delivery each take, how he and Oppenheim created an environment where “anything can happen at any time,” and how that impacted their own performances. They also discuss how Oppenheim and his team’s documentary background shaped the final film, and Gisondo shares details on his DC spin-off series for Superman’s Jimmy Olsen.

Robert Pattinson "Jumps Off a Cliff in Every Take" in 'Primetime'

"Lance encourages that kind of environment."

Image via A24

COLLIDER: Skyler, I'm going to start with you with the most important question: Are you ready to be called Decoy Dan for the next few years?

SKYLER GISONDO: [Laughs] It would be great. I'm used to it from production, because Rob [Pattinson]'s delivery of the one Decoy Dan just became every day on set. Every time I walked by, at least one person, that was the welcome: “Decoy Dan!” So, I've grown used to it, and I'm ready for it. It would be an honor for it to stick for a few years.

Robert has talked about the difficulty in finding Chris [Hansen]. I think he said it was like a cross between Jerry Maguire and Dracula. For both of you, what was it like watching him put together the performance, sitting across from him?

MERRITT WEVER: Skyler has talked about how he took a lot of huge swings, and as someone who was there seeing all the different directions he moved in, he was quite confident and quite agile as an actor. I think it's interesting to see the final cut and people talking about how almost extreme his performance is, because I feel like we saw takes all the way to the left and all the way to the right. So, I think it was wonderful to work with someone who felt that comfortable trying anything they felt like trying in the moment.

GISONDO: Totally. Lance [Oppenheim] said something to the effect of “Rob jumps off a cliff in every take,” and it certainly feels that way. I remember the very first day, the first take, you go through so many iterations in your head of how the scene could go, what it might look like, and then the camera starts rolling, and it is beyond what you could have possibly imagined. Rob is so dynamic, take to take.

I remember, which is probably bad acting on my part, in the middle of the first take, looking at Rob and thinking, “This is the greatest acting I've ever seen in my life. This guy's great. This is amazing!”

WEVER: It's selfishly helpful for my dynamic with him, too, because I had no idea what he was going to do, so I was kind of always at the mercy and having to pay attention to what direction he was going to run in, even geographically sometimes in a scene. So I was always kind of on my toes, paying attention, and feeling like I was getting tugged in one direction or another, which was useful.

GISONDO: Totally. Same. Yeah, Dan's in awe of Chris and just ready to just receive whatever energy he's going to bring. So, yeah, things always felt so alive. Truly, Rob's an inspiring guy to work with because of just the swings he's taking, just going for it. Truly, it makes you want to… It requires so much confidence. Because ultimately, for me, before that movie, I wouldn't try many things. I wouldn't have that much variation because you're afraid to fail. You don't want to fall flat on your face. And then working with Rob, it's like, “Oh man, it's got to be this. You gotta just try.”

WEVER: And Lance encourages that kind of environment, too. Lance wants to see anything. It's very, “Best idea wins. Even if it's a bad idea, let's still try it.” So, the two of them together foster that kind of environment, an environment of allowance.

GISONDO: Totally.

Skyler Gisondo Reveals Robert Pattinson's Wildest 'Primetime' Moment

"What movie is this? What is happening?"

Image via A24

What's so interesting about hearing your answers is that you really didn't know what movie you were going to watch when you got to see the film. It could have gone in a completely different way.

GISONDO: Totally. Yeah. Very much. I remember the first take, the first day, because it's the first scene, so you've had months and months to think about it, and you think you're prepared. Then it's the scene in this police precinct, and I'm doing a decoy phone call. At a certain point, Rob, his character’s supposed to come over and mouth the word “cock,” like he's saying get him talking about something incriminating that we can use. So in your head, you're just thinking he's going to be like [gestures].

We get to that point in the scene, and Rob hasn't said his lines, and I'm kind of looking down and emotional — and this is one of the first things we shot — and finally I look up and Rob's across the room, and he looks so messed up. Maybe the idea was some kind of vampiric thing where he gets his life force from taking these guys down, and the further away he feels from it, the weaker…

WEVER: He was sapped.

GISONODO: He’s sapped of some kind. So everything stops, and he slowly is making his way over, and just immediately you're like, “What movie is this? What is happening?” I never imagined what's happening, and that just fosters this sort of environment where it's like anything can happen at any time, which is a very exciting place to be working from.

WEVER: And more so than any other film I've been a part of or any other character I've played, I remember walking away from the shoot with an understanding that I wasn't going to know what film we made or what version of the character Lance was going to even choose until I saw it. So, it's strange to be talking about it right now and presenting it when, in a way, I feel like I just met the character a couple of weeks ago when I saw it for the first time.

GISONDO: Major shout out to Dan Garber, Lance's editor. I mean, those guys just work and work and work. Lance would show me things over the last year or so, and they made so many different movies in the edit. They just try things, throw everything at the wall, turn the movie over and over — never accept that it's in a great place.

WEVER: That’s their process.

GISONDO: That's just the way they work. They had, like, a million puzzle pieces, and it's so cool what they did.

WEVER: And they come from documentaries, so they're used to shifting through footage and choosing a narrative.

Skyler Gisondo Teases His "Very Unique" DC Series and Jimmy Olsen's Future

"It's this true-crime mockumentary thing."

Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection

I want to ask each of you an individual question. I'm a big fan of J.J. Abrams. I definitely am curious what that was like. And Skyler, you're filming a DC show right now, and I'm just curious, what can you tease about what's coming up for Jimmy Olsen? What excites you about what you've been doing?

GISONDO: This show, especially, is so fun because I've never seen anything like it — the idea of a mockumentary set in a superhero world. Tony [Yacenda] and Dan [Perrault] are such masters. I was such an enormous fan of American Vandal, and so to be working with these guys whose work I love, I think this show is going to be a very unique angle on all of this stuff, and very unexpected in some way, and we're having a blast.

Similarly to the way Lance [Oppenheim] works, because it's this true-crime mockumentary thing, it's a lot of verité stuff. It always feels very alive. We're filming courthouse sequences where it's just the CCTV cams, so it feels like a play. We're just running through. So it's been really fun. We're only a little ways into it, so hopefully it turns out alright.

WEVER: That is weirdly Primetime adjacent.

GISONDO: It's very Primetime adjacent, I know! I was prepped for it.

WEVER: I had a great time working with J.J. and Glen [Powell]. I have not seen the film yet, but I think there are many reasons to greatly look forward to it.

GISONDO: I don't even know how about it. You’re so secretive.

WEVER: Who’s to say?

Primetime opens in theaters September 25.

Cast

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  Chris Hansen

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  Andie Bender

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  Dan Plumb

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  Phoebe Bridgers

  Del