Venice has seen many dark dramas, but Primetime apparently brought its own spotlight, plus a 7-9 minute ovation. Robert Pattinson’s Chris Hansen, at the center of the true-crime drama, was already intriguing; handling it while filming the brooding The Batman Part II made the double duty irresistible. Phoebe Bridgers’ acting debut added another delicious wrinkle, and Venice has now turned the chatter up a hundredfold.

With a rumored nine-minute standing ovation no less, Primetime seems to have deeply impressed the Venice Film Festival crowd indeed.

The audience at Venice apparently discovered that leaving their seats was easier than agreeing on a stopwatch. Primetime received a standing ovation that various reports measured at seven, eight, or nine minutes, depending on whose clock was doing the judging. Variety settled on seven, while other accounts stretched the applause toward nine, which is hardly an unflattering case of numerical confusion.

Robert Pattinson received the lion’s share of the attention for his intense turn as Chris Hansen, although the applause did not leave Lance Oppenheim and Phoebe Bridgers entirely unemployed. Oppenheim, making his narrative feature debut, earned cheers alongside Bridgers, who makes her official acting debut here. The film had barely finished before its reception became another performance altogether.

Then came Suki Waterhouse, cheering from behind Pattinson before punctuating the applause with a kiss, because apparently Venice had not supplied enough drama. The moment swiftly became social-media fuel, giving the dark true-crime story an unexpectedly sweet footnote. Seven minutes, nine minutes, somewhere in between: Primetime had Venice standing, and Venice had plenty to say about it. 

Not Robert Pattinson, Chris Hansen Had a Different Actor in Mind for 'Primetime'

The Venice Film Festival applause, coupled with the focus on Robert Pattinson’s performance and the anticipated theatrical release in the UK, has pulled another familiar name into the conversation: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nightcrawler.

Robert Pattinson’s Chris Hansen and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom are cut from similarly unsettling cloth: men who turn other people’s misery into professional currency, then convince themselves they are simply doing their jobs. Primetime channels that poisonous blend of ambition, spectacle, and crime-as-entertainment, while Pattinson reportedly throws himself into the role with the same unnerving precision that made Nightcrawler so memorable.

That resemblance becomes especially tantalizing when awards momentum enters the picture. Jake Gyllenhaal delivered one of Nightcrawler’s most acclaimed performances yet missed an Oscar nomination, making Lou Bloom a fascinating cautionary tale for Pattinson’s campaign. If Primetime sustains its Venice buzz, however, the comparison could become more than flattering: Robert Pattinson may have found the kind of dark, awards-season role that makes voters look twice at such a time when heavyweights such as The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three threaten to take its place.

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Are you impressed by Primetime's 7-9-minute standing ovation? Let us know in the comments!