It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it moment but Pheobe Bridgers’ feature film acting debut is teased in the trailer for Primetime. Honestly, you can’t stop multi-talented musicians making their way into Hollywood.
In the latest A24 unsettler, the Grammy-winning artist joins a talented cast including Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, and Skyler Gisondo. Pattinson plays investigative journalist and TV presenter Chris Hansen, who famously hosted the controversial Dateline series To Catch a Predator in the mid-2000s.
Directed by Lance Oppenheim, Primetime draws inspiration from Hansen’s mission to make the notorious NBC show, which has a complicated legacy — Jimmy Kimmel once referred to it as “Punk’d for pedophiles.” Hansen’s team deployed hidden surveillance and undercover reporting to expose — and assist in arresting — men soliciting sex with minors in online chatrooms. It was true crime on primetime TV, with Hansen’s decoy actors and production team working with police and online watchdog group Perverted Justice to confront accused sexual predators as the cameras rolled. And the ratings were through the roof.
It’s not clear who Bridgers will play yet, however, with the talent of this cast and the complex notoriety of the show it’s channelling combined, we’re absolutely in.
Primetime will hit cinemas autumn 2026.
