Twenty years after its release, American Psycho is still remembered and discussed.
The misadventures of Patrick Bateman, a yuppie who is also a serial killer,
triggered lots of controversies and had a production full of ideas, twists and stars.
The original mastermind behind the story is Bret Easton Ellis. Born in 1964, he
grew up in a middle-class family in San Fernando, California. He and his two sisters seemed happy,
in a home that never lacked anything. Inside, however, the reality was different. Bret's father,
real estate agent Robert Martin Ellis, was a tough —even violent— person with alcohol issues.
Little Bret learned to channel his pain through writing,
and took the habit of wearing all black clothing. Both traits would accompany him thereafter.
After finishing high school, he enrolled at Bennington College, Vermont. There, he played the
keyboard in some bands, but soon turned completely into literature. In those days, he wrote his first
novel: Less Than Zero. Published in 1985, about a college student who returns to home in Los Angeles
for Christmas and gets together with people as confused as he is. Criticism condemned the style,
especially when describing sexual situations, drug use, and depravation. But the book became
a best seller. Youngsters felt identified with the characters and loved what would be
a distinctive feature of the author: references to the pop culture of the time, including brands,
films, and musicians such as David Bowie. At just 21 years old, Ellis was the literary
equivalent of the new wave music genre. His level of stardom, very unusual for a first-time writer,
led him to even introduce some music-videos on MTV.
His next novel was The Rules of Attraction, about a group of college students and their excesses.
It was not as successful as Less Than Zero, although it established its reputation as
a voice for the so-called Generation X. But Ellis' career and life reached another
level with his third book: American Psycho. The author wrote it when he moved to New York.
It took him three years. Much of the delay was due to the wild lifestyle he had undertaken
while living in the city. All the nightclubs, casual sex, alcohol, and drugs were the source
for the new fiction he was working on. In this environment of elitist decay,
he made contact with New York wildlife and a major source of inspiration:
the yuppies. Young executives who earned a lot of money to spend on expensive products.
True children of capitalism, rising thanks to the policy of the then President, Ronald Reagan.
Once he finished writing the massive text, Ellis brought the manuscript to those responsible
at Simon & Shuster publishing house, who had published his previous novels. But American Psycho
disgusted them so much that they decided not to publish it. The author went to Knoff publishing
house, which published it in 1991. The success was immediate, generating both love and hate of equal
intensity. Many were surprised by how Patrick Bateman, the protagonist, described the rapes,
the torture and the murders with the same coldness with which he did with his favorite perfumes.
Fame and fortune increased for Ellis, and similar to what happened to him with Less Than Zero,
his third book also captured the attention of many movie studios.
The rights were bought in 1992 by Edward Pressman, a producer who had been working
in films since the late 1960s, producing titles such as Phantom of the Paradise,
by Brian De Palma. He established his reputation with Oliver Stone on The Hand, Wall Street and
Talk Radio. He was also behind the creation of The Crow. Pressman was responsible for much of the
adult-oriented productions of the 1980s and 1990s. The first actor called to play Patrick Bateman was
Johnny Depp. For the director's role they looked at Stuart Gordon. Movies like Re-animator and
From Beyond had established him as a specialist in horror and dark humor. Gordon had the idea
to shoot the film in black and white, but still be faithful to the novel. However, negotiations
did not went through with either Depp or Gordon. Then, Pressman turned to David Cronenberg. In the
early '90s, the Canadian director had transcended horror and science-fiction labels with bizarre
films like Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch. American Psycho seemed to have concerns about bodies and
their transformations. Ellis himself joined the project as a screenwriter, and for the role of
Bateman, the rising Brad Pitt came into mind. But the working relationship between Cronenberg
and the writer was complicated, to say the least. According to Ellis, the director refused to shoot
in restaurants and clubs, which were crucial in the novel. At the same time, Ellis was so fed
up with his own script that he wrote an ending atop the Twin Towers with the song "Daybreak"
by Barry Manilow. As a result, Cronenberg called another screenwriter, Norman Snider, with whom
he had worked on Dead Ringers. However, it did not work either, and he abandoned the project
to direct Crash. Curiously, in 2012, he directed Cosmopolis, based on the novel by Don DeLillo,
which has a concept similar to American Psycho. While dealing with directors and potential actors,
Pressman was trying to pre-sell abroad and try to find a company interested in financing the film.
The controversial content of the story caused rejection from big studios. In 1996,
he found positive responses from Lionsgate, a small company that was willing to take risks.
Also at that time, Pressman found director Mary Harron. Canadian-born Harron studied at
Oxford University and created Punk Magazine, the first American magazine devoted to punk
rock. From there, she went on to direct documentaries for the British channel BBC.
Her feature debut was also linked to pop culture and public figures:
I Shot Andy Warhol, released in 1996, it focuses on Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist who
wanted to assassinate the famous artist. The film caught public attention at festivals like Sundance
and received mostly positive reviews. Harron read American Psycho and knew
what she had to do. While her vision would show Bateman torturing and murdering, she also wanted
to dig deeper into his narcissistic personality and the '80s New York consumerist environment.
She wrote the script with Guinevere Turner, who would have a victim role in the film.
When the time came to choose the main character, Matthew McConaughey and Christian Slater came
into mind. The role was even offered to Billy Crudup, who turned it down. Finally,
Harron chose the Welsh Christian Bale. Born in 1974, he made his cinematographic debut at age 13
in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. He played supporting roles in Henry V and Little Women.
The offer to play Patrick Bateman amused him, especially after his agent warned him
that the role would be a professional suicide. In addition to Bale, actors such as Jared Leto,
Justin Teroux, Reese Witherspoon, and Willem Dafoe became part of the project. In the case
of these last two, Lionsgate had requested the addition of two other strong names in the cast.
Leto was also considered to play Bateman. In 1997, everyone seemed ready to start
shooting. It would be a low budget production, in order to have the
creative freedom while shooting such a bold film. During pre-production, Lionsgate decided to bet
higher and suggested a famous actor for the lead. The first one was Edward Norton,
who had just been nominated for an Oscar for Primal Fear. Then they went for Leonardo DiCaprio,
who was at the top of his career because of Titanic's success. To the surprise of the company,
DiCaprio was interested in playing Bateman. Harron hated the idea, thinking he was too young for the
role. Ellis was the most excited about the news: he thought the new star would make the
film more perverse, even as a cultural event. DiCaprio's arrival generated tensions between
Harron and Bale. Bale was mad because this was the third time DiCaprio took a role away from him.
Both were previously cast for the leading role in Romeo+Juliet and also in Titanic. To make matters
worse, Lionsgate allowed DiCaprio to choose a new director. The candidates were Martin Scorsese,
Danny Boyle, and an old acquaintance of Pressman: Oliver Stone, who had shown yuppies on Wall Street
and criminals in Natural Born Killers. Harron hated this change, thinking that the director
of Platoon would make the character friendlier and move away from the tone proposed by the book.
With DiCaprio and Stone aboard, they also added Cameron Díaz, replacing Whiterspoon,
and James Woods in the role of Kimball. This addition of A-List
celebrities increased the budget to 40 million. However, the excitement of the celebrities lasted
shortly. Stone had several discussions with DiCaprio and soon abandoned production. The
actor followed the same path. One of the reasons could be related to Gloria Steinem,
a radical feminist who pressured him not to make the film, arguing that his fan base was
mostly teenagers who could be badly influenced. Cameron Díaz and James Woods also stepped out
of production. The cost of the film became again less than 10 million.
This situation allowed the return of Harron and Bale, who were rejecting many films because
they were sure that DiCaprio would not last long in that project. Bale was so committed,
that when Lionsgate offered the role to Ewan McGregor, he convinced him not to accept it.
Witherspoon and Dafoe also returned to the film. A particular case was that of Chloë Sevigny,
who played Jane, Bateman's secretary. She had been cast by Stone, and Harron decided to keep her.
To replicate Patrick Bateman's physique, Bale hired a personal trainer and underwent a rigid
diet. A routine that wasn't too different from that of the character. As for acting,
he studied interviews with Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage's performance in Vampire's Kiss, which also
satirized the world of Wall Street. And as if that wasn't enough, he also watched many porn movies to
embody the attitudes of the sadistic executive. Filming began in March 1999 in Toronto. The
problems during pre-production ended, but others came up. The scenes in the office were supposed to
be filmed in Canadian banks, but the bank owners changed their minds after many Canadian feminist
groups started protesting the film. To top it off, a copy of the book had been discovered in the home
of local murderer Paul Bernardo at that same time. With no chance of using actual locations
in Canada, the production had to invest 700,000 dollars in the construction of office sets.
The inconveniences did not end there. In the novel, Bateman mentions countless brands. But
many companies denied permission to be in the film. Some examples include American Express
and Calvin Klein. For Harron, this aspect was detrimental to being loyal to the book.
Something similar happened with the rights for the songs, which were essential to the plot. And many
of them were too expensive. For “Sussudio”, by Phil Collins, the production had to pay $120,000
dollars for the rights. with "Hip to Be Square" by Huey Lewis & The News, things became even more
complicated. Lionsgate dropped $150,000 dollars for the song's rights, and it was also included
on the film's official soundtrack album. But the album was later withdrawn and edited without that
song. Although the reason had to do with rights, some say that Huey Lewis himself hated to see his
song playing during one of Bateman's massacres. After filming was finished, post-production was
next. They had to return to the editing room several times: the Motion Picture Association
of America gave it an NC-17 rating. This forced to take out some of the most daring scenes, like when
Bateman has sex with two prostitutes. Ultimately, it was only necessary to cut 18 seconds.
Lionsgate did not have a big advertising budget, but managed to do some creative publicity stunts.
On the official American Psycho website, users could sign up to receive the messages from
Bateman to his therapist. That way, people could find out about the experiences of the character
and his relationship with colleagues and lovers. The messages were written by an anonymous author,
later approved by Ellis himself. The film had its premiere at the 2000
Sundance Film Festival, generating mixed comments and discussions about violence in movies.
It had better luck with the critics: newspapers like the New York Times and celebrity critics
like Roger Ebert praised Bale's performance and the film's satirical black comedy tone.
But everyone knew that the harshest critic would be Ellis. The author was not very happy
with some ideas he previously heard, but when he saw the movie, he praised Harron's work.
In 2014, he talked about the film again: he said that maybe it was not necessary to make a movie
about his book, but he appreciated the fact that the director had clarified that excess of violence
was part of the satire and not pure misogyny. The film was not a massive box office success,
but the producers were satisfied. They knew that there would be a small but powerful audience among
fans of the novel, and there they found a niche. DVD editions appeared in the subsequent years,
now with the censored cuts included. The movie became a cult phenomenon.
As of today, fans continue to analyze the film and come up with theories as
to whether Bateman's crimes were real or just a fiction in his twisted mind.
In 2002, Lionsgate released American Psycho 2, a sequel starring Mila Kunis. Neither
Bale nor Harron were part of the project. Ellis came as far as suing the producers,
and Kunis revealed that when she joined the project, it had nothing to do with the 2000 film.
American Psycho boosted the career of Christian Bale, who then began to show his talent and acting
commitment with leading roles in larger films. He took the leading role in the Dark Knight trilogy,
playing none other than Batman. In a way, Patrick Bateman and Batman have quite a bit in common,
including their phonetic similarity. Mary Harron directed other films,
but without the same scope. As for Ellis, he returned to the Patrick Bateman universe
with the novel Lunar Park, where the author himself is stalked by his sinister character.
The film adaptation of American Psycho started with a lot of controversy and created many new
ones. But above all, it became the first career step for one of the best actors of this time,
and made it clear that serial killers do not cease to exercise a morbid but unavoidable fascination.