Robert Pattinson was 'bribed' with 200 tins of nicotine pouches to take Primetime role
Robert Pattinson was sent 200 tins of nicotine pouches to persuade him to star in Primetime.
Robert Pattinson was sent 200 tins of nicotine pouches to persuade him to star in Primetime.
The Batman actor was originally planning to produce the film without appearing in it, but director Lance Oppenheim wanted him to play US television presenter Chris Hansen.
Oppenheim knew Pattinson used Zyn, a brand of nicotine pouches, and used a shortage of the product in America to his advantage.
He told Vulture: "Rob, at the time, was grappling with a Zyn addiction."
The filmmaker persuaded a friend working in Canada to send 200 tins to Pattinson's home in Los Angeles.
The delivery was accompanied by a revised screenplay and a letter that began: "Dear Chris Han-Zyn."
It was a joke about Hansen, who became known for confronting suspected online predators on the NBC programme To Catch a Predator.
But Oppenheim wasn't relying on the delivery alone to win Pattinson over.
Screenwriter Ajon Singh had spent a week reworking the script, giving the actor a version of the story that might make him reconsider taking the lead role.
In a previous interview with Entertainment Weekly, Oppenheim recalled another unusual meeting at Pattinson's house, when he and Singh arrived with alcoholic drinks and gummies.
They stayed until around two in the morning discussing what the film could become.
The director admitted Pattinson did not immediately understand what they were trying to do.
Rather than abandon the idea, the pair kept working on the screenplay, pushing it towards the strange, unsettling tone they wanted.
Oppenheim said they were aiming for the kind of heightened atmosphere found in films by Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma.
The changes eventually paid off.
After reading the revised script, Pattinson rang the director and agreed to play Hansen, as well as remain a producer.
Oppenheim was so excited by the news that he compared it to basketball star LeBron James announcing his move to the Miami Heat.
The actor plays a fictionalised version of Hansen in the A24 film, which draws on the presenter's work investigating adults suspected of pursuing children online.
