Primetime has arrived in theaters, and while Robert Pattinson is getting most of the attention for his turn as Chris Hansen, it is another character who has quietly become the emotional center of the film. Skyler Gisondo plays Dan Plumb, a young aspiring actor who becomes the on-camera bait for the To Catch a Predator sting operation. The character has sparked a wave of curiosity online, with viewers asking the same question: who is Decoy Dan, and what happened to the real person behind him?
The film, distributed by A24 and directed by Lance Oppenheim, opened in theaters across the United States and India on September 25, 2026. It also hit screens in the UK, Canada, and Australia around the same window. The movie premiered earlier at the Venice International Film Festival, where early reviews praised Gisondo’s performance as the naive young actor drawn into a morally complicated world.
The Real Decoy Behind Dan Plumb
Dan Plumb is a fictionalized version of a real person named Dan Schrack, who worked as a decoy on To Catch a Predator in the mid-2000s. In the film, Gisondo’s character is a 23-year-old aspiring actor who loves musical theater and auditions for what he believes will be dramatic reenactments. Instead, he learns he will be meeting predators face to face while hidden cameras roll. That detail tracks closely with Schrack’s real experience.
Schrack was a young actor when he joined Chris Hansen’s team. He had done commercial work for Toys “R” Us before signing on, according to Esquire. A Vanity Fair article noted that decoys were reportedly paid $5,000 per Predator episode. The show used actors who were 18 and older to pose as teenagers online, luring men to a sting house where Hansen would confront them. Schrack served as the male decoy for stings in Murphy, Texas, Petaluma, California, and Fort Myers, Florida.
The work took a heavy toll. Schrack has spoken about the emotional weight of the job, particularly the 2006 case involving Bill Conradt Jr., an assistant district attorney in Rockwall County, Texas, who died by suicide as police and the Predator team attempted to draw him out.
“I’ve blocked that out,” Schrack told People magazine. “This was something that I had started to pack up as nicely as I could and bury as far back as possible.”
He also said he would never film that episode again, even for a large sum of money.
Where Dan Schrack Is Now
Dan Schrack left the world of hidden-camera stings behind and built a career in broadcast journalism. He joined the 13WHAM News team in June 2019, following stints as a producer in Buffalo and an anchor in Elmira, New York. He grew up in Niagara Falls, New York, and has described himself as a theater kid who channeled his love of performance into news. Schrack now co-hosts the 13WHAM/FOX Rochester morning show and remains active in the Rochester community.
His journey from decoy to journalist is one of the more unexpected turns in the Predator story. While the movie changes his name to Dan Plumb and takes other creative liberties, the core arc of a young actor who wanted a SAG card and got far more than he bargained for remains intact.
How Skyler Gisondo Brought Decoy Dan to Life
Skyler Gisondo, known for playing Jimmy Olsen in the 2025 Superman film, took on the role of Dan Plumb with a mix of vulnerability and quiet dread. Reviews have singled out his performance as one of the film’s strongest elements. The Los Angeles Times wrote that when Gisondo appears as Decoy Dan, “the camera can’t take its eyes off him.” The Austin Chronicle called him “excellent” as the operation’s new decoy, noting that Dan is a beginning actor who just wants to earn his union card.
Gisondo has said the role was the most gratifying of his career, though it came with challenges.
“Having more distance from it now, I see that clearly, just the contrast of how serious this subject matter is and then the outlandishness of the kind of setup of the show,” Gisondo told Digital Spy.
He also admitted to feeling “major impostor syndrome” while working alongside Pattinson and Merritt Wever, who plays producer Andie Bender. In interviews, Gisondo has reflected on the strange reality that decoys like Dan Schrack put themselves in genuinely distressing situations, all in pursuit of an acting credit.
Chris Hansen Is Not Happy About the Movie
The real Chris Hansen has been vocal about his displeasure with Primetime. He has called the film an “insult” and described it as “identity theft” in interviews. Hansen has taken issue with fictionalized scenes and dialogue that he says do not reflect what actually happened.
“Robert Pattinson has said that he hopes the movie adds to my legacy, and I appreciate that,” Hansen told The Hollywood Reporter. “But they put him in a difficult position.”
Pattinson has responded to the criticism with a measured tone, telling ABC News that he understands Hansen’s perspective but is surprised by how much traction the debate has received. The film has an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 125 reviews, with many critics praising Pattinson’s performance while questioning the movie’s moral stance.
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The Real Legacy of Decoy Dan
The attention on Dan Plumb has also raised questions about who else from Hansen’s team was left out of the film. Some viewers have pointed out that Casey Mauro, another real-life decoy, was essentially erased from the story, with one of her major moments given to Dan instead. That creative choice has sparked debate among fans of the original show.
Also Read: Chris Hansen Walks Out of Robert Pattinson’s ‘Primetime’ Screening After Refusing to Sign NDA
What remains clear is that the young actor who once stood in a sting house waiting for a predator to walk through the door has become the most human part of a story that often feels like a circus. Dan Schrack moved on. He built a life in news. He blocked out the worst of it. But the movie has put a spotlight back on the person behind the nickname, and for many viewers, that is the part of Primetime that lingers longest.
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