Chris Hansen was invited to see a movie about Chris Hansen. He showed up. A24’s lawyers handed him a stack of legal paperwork. Hansen said, “Absolutely not.” So he left without seeing the movie.
You really couldn’t write a better Chris Hansen story if you tried.
The former “To Catch a Predator” host tells Fox News’ Jesse Watters that he traveled to A24 for a private screening of “Primetime,” the upcoming Robert Pattinson-starring film inspired by Hansen and his infamous series. However, before the movie could roll, A24 allegedly wanted Hansen to sign an agreement that — according to him — would effectively surrender his rights to his name, image and brand, along with potential legal claims stemming from the film.
The lawyers at A24 wanted me to sign away my rights to my name, image and brand, essentially, as well as any potential legal rights that would come out of the movie. I couldn’t sign that, so they didn’t show me the film. I went all the way over there.
Hansen says his attorneys had already looked over the paperwork and advised him not to sign. “Of course not,” he said when asked whether he would sign something like that without a lawyer present. “This was a very restrictive agreement. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
And naturally, Hansen says he has not seen the movie, only the trailer, which did not impress him.
If you look at the trailer, obviously it’s a very dramatized version. They had told me that it’s fictionalized in many aspects.
Hansen also found it curious that A24 apparently wanted him to sign an NDA when, according to him, other people had already watched the film without doing so.
I know other people have seen it who didn’t sign an NDA, and yet they wanted me to sign it.
Did A24 try to ambush him into signing something?
The movie is already made, the trailer is out, and apparently other people have seen it without signing anything. So why spring this on him at the screening? One possible theory is that A24 wanted him to sign a broad release or NDA at the last possible moment, either to protect themselves or to get him on board with the movie. Another is that Hansen, ever the showman, is making it all up.
Padraic McKinley, who directed this year's "The Weight," is on board to direct from a script by Oscar nominee Steven Knight, suggesting Taylor Sheridan's original draft has been set aside.