Primetime director Lance Oppenheim had a rather unconventional approach to convincing Robert Pattinson to act in his recent film.
In an interview with Vulture, the director explained that he bribed Pattinson with Zyn and a pun.
Primetime stars Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen. The film dramatizes Hansen as he works to take down child predators and questions where the line is between justice and entertainment. Directed by Oppenheim, the film also stars Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, and Merritt Wever.
Pattinson had initially agreed to produce Primetime, but he was hesitant to take the role of Hansen. Both screenwriter Ajon Singh and Oppenheim tried their hardest to convince him. What finally worked? Oppenheim sent the actor 200 canisters of Zyn.
“Rob, at the time, was grappling with a Zyn addiction,” Oppenheim explained. Attached to the nicotine pouches were the most recent draft of the script at the time and a letter to the actor. The letter began with “Dear Chris Han-Zyn.”
After receiving the bribe, Pattinson finally changed his mind and called the team to say he was ready to take on the role. Oppenheim described it like “LeBron making the announcement that he was joining the Heat.”
Pattinson said that Oppenheim has “very unique whims.” In Primetime, there is a scene where Hansen spits out mouthwash, a mundane task that just wasn’t interesting enough for Oppenheim. Cinematographer David Bolen recalled, “Lance is like, ‘Ugh! So boring! This is not working!’ And he says, ‘Rob, just try one where you go crazy.’ Everyone on set is looking at him like, What?” The result is an aggressive action from Pattinson, who throws himself towards the mirror and spits at a distance from the sink in such an abnormal fashion that it just works.
The rest of the Vulture article mainly focuses on Oppenheim’s latest documentary, You Can See Everything. Primetime and You Can See Everything are total opposites. Primetime is Oppenheim’s first narrative feature, while he is best known for his documentary filmmaking. Because Oppenheim was working on both films concurrently and both were released within weeks of each other, it is impossible to separate the two. Oppenheim premiered both films within a day of each other, solidifying 2026 as his year.
Primetime is in theaters now.
