Robert Pattinson has weighed in on why Chris Hansen has become one of the internet’s most durable meme figures. The two are now linked by Primetime, an A24 thriller directed by Lance Oppenheim that opened in theaters on September 25. Pattinson plays Hansen in it, and the real Hansen has not exactly sent flowers. Then a tracksuit photo from 2017 re-entered the conversation, and Pattinson had plenty to say about it.

While Hansen answers one meme with another, Pattinson has been busy shaping the way Hansen comes across on screen, and the approach behind it is worth a closer look.

Robert Pattinson says he still does not fully understand why Chris Hansen became such a meme, even after spending an entire film playing him. Hansen recently recreated Pattinson’s famous 2017 kitchen photo online, pose and outfit included.

“I don’t really know why Chris Hansen is such a memeable thing,” Pattinson told Entertainment Tonight.

He then added, “It was one of the earliest memes on social media. It’s just something about him.”

Pattinson also told Entertainment Tonight that the crossover is what drew him to Hansen. Plenty of people have covered the same subject matter, yet none of them broke into mainstream internet culture the way Hansen did. In Pattinson’s view, Hansen has survived changing trends and moved between different mediums with elegance. The kitchen recreation, then, only adds to that lore. Hansen’s own caption said, "two can play at that game."

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While Hansen keeps riding every internet wave with ease, Pattinson was busy working out how to make the on-screen Hansen walk into a room like he owned it.

Speaking to Premiere FR at the Venice Film Festival, Robert Pattinson explained that his version of Chris Hansen borrows a few habits from his Batman. Both men, he noted, love a theatrical entrance. Primetime began life with a lighter comedic script, but the story turned into a tense thriller. As that happened, Pattinson started adding charismatic, juicier traits to the character, the kind that push their way into other people’s lives.

The approach appears to be working, since the performance is already drawing early Oscar buzz. Batman, meanwhile, keeps surfacing throughout Pattinson’s press tour. He recently told LADbible that fitting his Batman into James Gunn’s DCU would be tough, and he told Collider that the Batman sequel takes a very different, ambitious approach compared with the 2022 film. Either way, Pattinson and Hansen have now traded memes across the same timeline, and the internet is the only clear winner.

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What are your thoughts on Robert Pattinson’s view of Chris Hansen’s meme legacy? Let us know in the comments.