The everyday life of the young banker Patrick Bateman is filled with perfection – perfectly tailored suits, chiseled figure, an almost sterile apartment and a dream job for a large corporation. While many would give anything for such a life, Patrick found the routine unbearable. Over time, as a result of various phrases, the man’s psychopathic tendencies make themselves felt. Murder becomes his new routine. At one point, neither the viewers nor Bateman himself are sure what is really in his mind.
On the one hand, cult, and on the other, outrageous
American Psycho is based on the 1991 book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. The novel met with a twofold reception – some critics pointed out the way in which the author accurately portrays the then consumerism and the generation of the so-called. yuppie, or Young Urban Professional. The term covered the young generation of English and Americans who started their professional career in the 1980s and meant more or less the same as “young professionals climbing the career ladder”. Ellis paid particular attention to moral corruption, the objectification of man, and the desire to possess.
What the other part of the critics noticed was primarily the way the author treats the women who become victims of his dark fantasies with the hands of the main character. The heroines of the novel are simply stupid, naive and they are easily manipulated by the men around them. American journalist and feminist Gloria Steinem was among those who publicly criticized the novel. Interestingly, in the year of the film’s release, she was married to David Bale, Christian Bale’s father. The actor, in an interview given at the end of last year to the YouTube channel Outstanding Screenplays, recalled the preparations for his role as Bateman:
I visited various people on Wall Street, but when I was on the stockbrokers’ floor, and I was there before the film was shot, a bunch of them were like, ‘Oh, Patrick Bateman.’ They would pat me on the back and say ‘oh yeah, we love him’. I asked them, ‘ironic, right?’ and they said, ‘but what do you mean?’. It was always disturbing.
Another objection was directed towards painfully realistic descriptions of brutal murders. The novel is compared to the collection of short stories “Possessed” by Chuck Palahniuk, the creator of m.in. “Fight Club”, on the basis of which David Fincher’s film of the same name was based. Palahniuk, promoting the book during meetings with authors, read the short story Tripe, during which a total of about 60 people reportedly fainted. The sale of “American Psycho” was prohibited in Australia, and the book had limited distribution in Germany and the USA. Over time, as a result of protests from feminist circles, the publishing house decided to stop publishing the novel.
The story of Patrick Bateman definitely had cinematic potential, which was noticed by many filmmakers. Such directors as Oliver Stone, the author of m.in. “Natural Killers” from 1994 (perhaps this was influenced by the similarity of the types of heroes) and David Cronenberg, considered one of the most controversial filmmakers. The choice fell on Mary Harron, who had made two films by then, including 1996’s I Shot Warhol. As before, the woman both directed and wrote the screenplay for “American Psycho”. The cinematographer Andrzej Sekuła was also invited to cooperate, who together with Quentin Tarantino created, among others, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
The film premiered at the Sundance Independent Film Festival and, like the book, sparked extreme opinions. When it comes to adapting brutality, the film can be considered as bordering on tolerance and disgust, but it is worth remembering that most of the available versions are censored. For lovers of strong sensations, a special edition of the DVD called “Killer Edition” has been created. Despite the content control, the film is described as one of the most outrageous in history, right next to productions such as “Salò, or 120 Days of Sodom” by Pier Paolo Pasolini, “A Clockwork Orange” by Stanley Kubrick or “Irreversible” by Gaspar Noé with a brutal rape scene lasting several minutes.
“People told me don’t take the role of Patrick Bateman”
If it wasn’t for the director’s stubbornness, Christian Bale would never have played the psychopathic banker. The studio behind the project planned to cast Leonardo DiCaprio in it, but he turned it down in favor of another film. The producers agreed to hire Bale, but only on the condition that they pay him minimum wage. Apparently, make-up artists mocked the actor, saying that they earn more than him. Even if it was a small amount, it definitely paid off for the actor to get involved in the production, which not only became somewhat iconic, but also opened the way for more significant roles in his output, being a significant item in his portfolio.
In the aforementioned interview, the actor also shared the fears he had at the time before making the final decision – “people told me: don’t take the part of Patrick Bateman, it’s professional suicide”, I replied, “I’m going for it!”. Others said, “You know, if you play Batman, it’s over, you won’t play anything else – you’ll always be Batman,” and I was like, “I’m going for it!” As you can see, his career hasn’t suffered from being involved in any of these productions, and last year he provided us with one of the better performances of Marvel villain Gorra in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder.
What catches the viewers’ attention, apart from Patrick himself and his “accomplishments”, is his New York apartment. It can be said that the apartment is able to tell us more about its character than the apartment itself. It is modern, raw and you can see that it was decorated for a fortune. The watchful eye will notice in the film the iconic pieces of equipment that define who our hero is. The creators of the Learning from Hollywood website listed many iconic elements, such as designer furniture, posters and contemporary art. The decor of Bateman’s apartment has recently become loud thanks to the latest song by Miley Cyrus “Flowers”. In the viral video, the artist recreates not only Patrick’s murderous training, but also walks around the villa where her husband allegedly cheated on her many times. The decor and specific furniture are reminiscent of an apartment from “American Psycho”.
Two years after the premiere of the film, its sequel was released – “American Psycho 2” with Mila Kunis, who plays a witness to one of Patrick’s crimes. The film went unnoticed, collecting very poor reviews. In 2016, Bateman made his Broadway debut when Rupert Goold directed a musical about a Wall Street psychopath. In one of the interviews he confessed:
It will be a satire on the materialistic world of total superficiality and vanity – like a combination of ‘Dexter’ and ‘Sex and the City’.
A few years earlier, the production premiered in London to positive reviews from critics. If fans of the novel and the movie weren’t enough, less than a year ago, work on a series based on Ellis’ book was announced. It is not yet known whether Christian Bale will reprise his role as Patrick Bateman.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
