By Erin Free
What Happened? Upon its publication in 1991, Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho was an instant cause celebre. Its high-intensity sexual violence had the book plastic-wrapped before it could hit shelves, and its leading character, Patrick Bateman – an uber-yuppie with a yen for torture and murder, principally of women – polarised audiences, and raised the ire of feminists. So when studio, Lions Gate (who had purchased the rights to the novel), handed the reins to director and noted feminist, Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol, The Notorious Bettie Page), heads were universally scratched. Harron inventively cast Christian Bale in the role of Patrick Bateman, but when Lions Gate got wind that Leonardo DiCaprio was interested in playing the Wall Street serial killer, the studio started to reengineer the project on a much bigger scale. Oliver Stone was tapped to direct, and Mary Harron and Christian Bale left the project in disgust. But when pioneering feminist, Gloria Steinem, allegedly lobbied DiCaprio not to make American Psycho because of his Titanic teen fan base, the actor dropped out to make The Beach instead, ironically displacing that film’s original leading man, Ewan McGregor, who was then – in a further ironic twist – considered for the Patrick Bateman role. Rumour has it that Christian Bale actually talked McGregor (the pair had starred together in 1998’s Velvet Goldmine) out of taking the role, and he and Mary Harron eventually returned to American Psycho. Want another ironic twist? Gloria Steinem actually married Christian Bale’s father, who passed away in 2003. “Mary Harron put her movie on the backburner for a year solely because she believed that I was the right person to play Patrick Bateman,” Bale told Sabotage Times. “That was incredibly honourable.”
Would It Have Worked? Christian Bale is extraordinary as Patrick Bateman, but Leonardo DiCaprio is an actor of equal measure, and he would have rocked the refined Wall Street savage’s designer suits beautifully.
