American Psycho (film)

American Psycho
American Psycho
	File:Americanpsychoposter.jpg
Directed by	Mary Harron
Written by	Novel:; Bret Easton Ellis; Screenplay:; Mary Harron; Guinevere Turner
Starring	Christian Bale; Chloe Sevigny; Willem Dafoe; Josh Lucas; Jared Leto; Justin Theroux; Reese Witherspoon
Music by	John Cale
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release dates	April 14, 2000
Running time	101 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8,000,000

American Psycho is a 2000 film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' controversial novel American Psycho which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on April 14, 2000. The film stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, with Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Justin Theroux, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Willem Dafoe and Samantha Mathis.

Adaptation from novel

Mary Harron, who had previously directed I Shot Andy Warhol based on the story of Valerie Solanas, directed the film and co-wrote its screenplay with Guinevere Turner. This screenplay was selected over three others, including one by Ellis himself; according to Turner, Ellis' script ended with a giant musical number. When she asked Ellis about this, she says he admitted he had been unable to think of a good way to end his script (this story is supposedly untrue; rather, Ellis simply suggested ending it this way when the studio suggested a more concrete ending.) Turner claims Ellis' only complaint with the movie was Bateman's moonwalk before killing Paul Owen. Although the movie doesn't fully depict all of Bateman's on-goings that occurred in the novel, the film accurately depicts the atmosphere of the book: gruesome and dark, yet also humorous. Virtually every line in the film, including voice-overs, are taken verbatim from Ellis' novel. One of the few discrepancies is that Paul Owen's name in the book was changed to Paul Allen for the film.

Many people in the film industry have said that the novel was "unfilmable" due to its story, extreme violence, and sexual content. During the early stage of preproduction, many actors, directors, and crew members were considered to take on the movie adaptation. Director Mary Harron and actor Christian Bale originally set to make the movie, but Leonardo DiCaprio expressed interest in playing the lead. Production company Lions Gate issued a press release that DiCaprio would star in the movie, Mary Harron walked off the project, and Oliver Stone expressed interest in directing the film. When both DiCaprio (whose interest in this project had been greatly overstated) and Stone dropped the project, Harron and Bale returned to the movie.

To clean up the unedited DVD version of the movie and achieve a relatively mild R rating, the producers excised approximately eighteen seconds of footage from a ménage à trois scene featuring an emotionally detached Patrick Bateman and two prostitutes. A bit of dialogue was also edited - Bateman orders a prostitute (Christy) to bend over so that another (Sabrina) can "see your asshole". The edited version cuts the last syllable, changing the line to "see your ass."

The question of Patrick Bateman's Reality

There has been much debate among fans as to what extent the movie was supposed to have taken place in Bateman's mind. It is arguable that Bateman, as is also true of the novel, never commits any acts of violence. This is arguable because: one, Patrick is always alone with his victim(s) when he commits a crime; two, the evidence of his crimes disappear mysteriously; and, three, the characters never acknowledge Patrick's obvious claims of psychosis. There are several instances in the movie where the reality of the events is called into question:

When Patrick engages in a gun battle with the four policemen while standing in the middle of the street, he fires at one of the police cars and causes it to explode; Patrick then stares at his gun in obvious disbelief.
Much like the novel, this movie does satirize the yuppie society. This is highlighted when Bateman confronts his lawyer, Harold, who says that he had dinner with Paul Allen in London just ten days prior. This presents two possibilities: one, Bateman imagined killing Paul Allen altogether; or, two, as everyone was confusing Bateman with Halberstam, it is possible that in the fake society, no one really knew who anyone was.
Other characters in the movie repeatedly refer to Patrick as a "loser" while mistaking him for someone else. This is taken by some as another example of Patrick's warped sense of reality reflecting his own feelings of inadequacy.
There is conflicting commentary on the DVD from Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner as to whether or not the crimes actually occurred.

Disappearance of Evidence

After Patrick kills Paul Allen and drags his body through the lobby a blood trail is clearly visible. Later, after Patrick talks to Luis Carruthers, the blood trail is gone.
At the end of the movie Patrick returns to Paul Allen's apartment and all evidence of his crimes is gone. He finds a real estate agent present who appears to have no knowledge of the events that supposedly transpired there (though the real estate agent's hostile attitude and behavior creates ambiguity as to whether or not she has knowledge and is covering up the crime, and whether her hostility is genuine or his paranoid perception).
Patrick takes a limo driver to pick up a prostitute he has previously abused and has a lenthy and incriminating discussion in his presence.
When Patrick kills Paul Allen, his violent ax blows did not appear in the floor and newspaper would not prevent the volume of blood evidence created from penetrating the floor cracks and surrounding furniture.

Ignorance of Characters

After Patrick murders Paul Allen, no one seems to notice that Patrick is dragging Paul's body to a taxi cab outside his apartment. Both the lobby security guard and Luis Carruthers see the body-bag, but neither seem to notice or care.
No one on the floor answers their doors in Paul Allen's building when the prostitute is screaming for help and beating on them, and apparently no one is curious about hearing a chain saw or seeing blood on the floor in the hallway or stairway, such that they would call the police soon enough to question the floor residents and find the murder evidence before Patrick can thoroughly clean Paul Allen's apartment.
There are several occasions when Bateman speaks candidly about his nature in front of others and is completely ignored, however there is scope for the others to not have heard him, in a noisy bar, for instance, or when the other character is inebriated. Even when Patrick plainly makes claims of his on-goings, these statements are completely ignored.
- Examples of Patrick's ignored claims/suggestions of psychosis:
  - When talking to an inebriated Paul Allen: "I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?"
  - The bartender at a night club: "You're a fucking ugly bitch. I want to stab you to death, and then play around with your blood."
  - To a dry-cleaner: "If you don't shut your fucking mouth, I will kill you."
  - Daisy: "What do you do?" Patrick: "I'm into... well murders and executions mostly." Daisy: "Do you like it?"
  - To Evelyn Williams at a restaurant: "I need to engage in homicidal behavior on a massive scale. It cannot be corrected but I have no other way to fulfill my needs."
  - To Waiter at restaurant: "Not if you want to keep your spleen."

Other cast and crew considerations

Edward Norton was offered the part of Bateman but turned it down.
Brad Pitt was once attached to star, with David Cronenberg directing and Bret Easton Ellis himself writing the script.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Patrick Bateman, James Woods as Donald Kimball and Cameron Diaz as Evelyn Williams with Oliver Stone set to direct from a script written by Matthew Markwalder.
Playwright Jeff Smeenge worked on earlier adaptions of the script prior to new direction by eventual screenwriter Mary Harron
DiCaprio was going to be paid $20 million for the film but the role went to Christian Bale when director Mary Harron returned to the project.
Reese Witherspoon, who has a small role, requested that her character not be involved with any romantic love scenes with the lead character. The role was shortened to her request though the role in the novel was very important and did have a few sexual scenes. ^{[citation needed]}

Reception

American Psycho debuted at the Sundance Film Festival to pleased audiences. The film received mostly positive to excellent reviews, with the New York Times calling it a "mean and lean horror comedy classic." Christian Bale is renowned for his strong performance in the movie. The film is considered by many as a cult classic with Patrick Bateman emerging as a cult icon in the subsequent years of American Psycho's release. The movie is notorious for its graphic content, dark humor, and its depiction of the yuppie lifestyle.

Marketing

As a promotion for the movie, one could sign up to receive e-mails "from" Patrick Bateman, supposedly to his therapist. The e-mails follow Bateman's life since the events of the film. In the e-mails, he discusses such developments as his marriage to (and impending divorce settlement with) his former secretary, Jean, his complete adoration of his son, Patrick Jr., and his efforts to triumph over his business rivals. The e-mails also mention or detail interactions with other characters from the novel, including Timothy Price (Bryce in the film version), Evelyn Williams, Luis Carruthers, and Marcus Halberstam.

Soundtrack

Main article: American Psycho: Music from the Controversial Motion Picture

The soundtrack for the film was scored by John Cale, with artists such as David Bowie, The Cure and New Order.

Associations with other media

Patrick's "There is no real me..." served as the opener to Aiden's song "Knife Blood Nightmare."
The song "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves, which runs during the establishing shots of New York City and Wall Street, makes an ironic reference to Michael J. Fox's The Secret of My Success, which also features the song. Similarly, the presence of New Order's hit "True Faith" also makes reference to the film adaptation of Ellis' friend Jay McInerney's book Bright Lights, Big City, which also features the song.
While working out, Patrick Bateman watches Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (although in the actual film, there is no screaming heard when Leatherface performs his infamous "dance"). Several scenes later he pursues Christie with a chainsaw.
Speech snippets from the movie were sampled by DJ Paul Elstak for his gabber track "I Had to Kill a Lot of People".
Murderdolls used the line "I like to dissect girls" before the solo in the song "197666" (pronounced nineteen-seventy-six-six-six).
Samples from the film have also been used by Belgian death metal band Aborted in the opening song "Dead Wreckoning" of their fourth album The Archaic Abattoir.
The Orange County hardcore band Bleeding Through has the quotation and part of the speech before "I killed Paul Allen, I killed him with an axe in the face" from the movie before starting the live version of the song "Number Seven with a Bullet".
Melbourne hardcore band Carpathian use an extensive amount of Brett Easton Ellis influence in they're album "Nothing To Lose", track names include "End of the 1980s"(a chapter in American Psycho), "End of The World" (location at Camden recurring in Rules of Attraction, The Informers and American Psycho) and "The Rules Of Attraction". Lyrics and artwork both have American Psycho influence.
The drum and bass outfit Gein has used samples from the film to introduce their DJ mixes.
The Finnish band Children of Bodom used a snippet from Bateman's final speech as an ending to the song "Bodom Beach Terror", and continued the snippet into the beginning of the next track "Angels Don't Kill" on the album Hate Crew Deathroll. The title of the song "Mask of Sanity" from the album Follow the Reaper is taken from a quote in the movie.
The song "My Hate Unfolds" by Callenish Circle, a metal band from Holland, starts off with "I want my pain to be inflicted on others" and ends with Christian Bale's speech at the end of the movie, "There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference towards it, I have now surpassed. My pain is constant and sharp, and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact, I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. My punishment continues to elude me, and I gain no deeper knowledge of myself. This confession has meant nothing."
The song "Ethereal Bleeding" by American metal band Rune ends with Bateman's final speech.
The song "Claws of Perdition" by Swedish black metal band Shining ends with this speech as well.
The song "Red Lights" by British band Curiosity Killed The Cat plays during Bateman's evening with Christie and Elizabeth in Paul Allen's apartment.
The song "This Confession Means Nothing" by British metalcore band Architects is a homage to the speech by Christian Bale.
The song "Erratic Perception" by American death metal band Through the Eyes of the Dead uses the same speech.
The song "Hold Me Closer Tony Danza" by American grindcore band Killwhitneydead also uses Christian Bale's speech.
The song "Psycho2Vii" by the Industrial act C-Drone Defect features a variety of samples from the film.
The song "American Psycho" by metal act My Ruin which includes the line 'this is not an exit' among other references
The song "Bloodlust" by Cleveland, Ohio metal band Chimaira is based on the movie, as it is one of the favourite movies of the band's lead singer Mark Hunter
Defunct Scottish punk band Sirius used the line "I have to return some videotapes" in their song "Baby, Can I Kill You?"
Patrick Bateman is the subject of Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers' song, entitled "Patrick Bateman"
The song "American Psycho" from The Misfits is based on the book by Brett Easton Ellis.
American thrash metal band Anthrax released song called "This Is Not An Exit" on their 1993 album "Sound of White Noise"
Parodied on the Australian movie show The Bazura Project, Episode 1.10, as part of the episode's opening sequence.

Notable facts

In the movie, Patrick claims he lives "in the American Gardens building on West 81st." Tom Cruise once lived there. The makers of the film originally envisioned Tom playing the role of Patrick. In the novel, Patrick has a brief encounter with Cruise, who reacts negatively to Bateman (who has a nosebleed induced by cocaine abuse).
Some events that Bateman mentions in the phone message to his lawyer are events that transpired in the book, but not in the film.
In the movie Rules of Attraction (based on another Ellis novel), the main character Sean Bateman receives a phone call from Paul. He initially does not recognize the caller and asks "Who is this? Patrick?" (In the novel, Patrick is Sean's brother. Although filmed, his scenes were cut from the film.)
When Bateman concludes his confession in the final scene at Harry's Bar, a wooden door in the background bears a sign reading "This Is Not An Exit." These are the famous last words of the novel, possibly representing the endless cycle that Bateman, and to a greater extent America, must continuously endure. They are also reminiscent of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist play No Exit.
In 2005, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association released an action figure based on Christian Bale's likeness as Patrick Bateman in the American Psycho film as part of its first series of Cult Classics action figures.
The song played at the beginning of the credits is "Something in the Air" by David Bowie, the same song played during the credits of Memento, a film released the same year. The two films share similar themes of warped realities, and Christian Bale goes on to star in Memento's director Christopher Nolan's first blockbuster -- Batman Begins. Also, Bale went on to star in the film The Prestige, which also starred David Bowie. The Prestige was also directed by Nolan.
In the Showtime original series Dexter, serial killer Dexter Morgan uses "Patrick Bateman" as an alias.
After meeting the detective for the first time in the movie, Patrick Bateman cuts the meeting short by saying he is having lunch with Cliff Huxtable, the patriarch of the family from "The Cosby Show". Prior to this, he also makes a flippant reference to oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens.
Christian Bale spent several months working out by himself, and then three hours a day with a trainer during preproduction, in order to achieve the proper physique for the obsessed, narcissistic Bateman.
Patrick Bateman's favourite band is Talking Heads, who, coincidentally, have a song called "Psycho Killer".

American Psycho 2

A direct-to-video sequel, American Psycho 2: All American Girl followed, directed by Morgan J. Freeman. This sequel was not based on the novel and cannot be reconciled with subsequent novels by Bret Easton Ellis, as its only connection with the original is the death, in a flashback scene utilizing a different actor (Michael Kremko) wearing a face mask, of Patrick Bateman himself. The movie bears no real resemblance to the original in plot, character, theme, or setting, and most fans of the original novel and film adaptation do not acknowledge the sequel as a valid part of the character's continuity. It has been dismissed by fans of the original as an attempt to cash in on the title of the book and the film adaptation.

External links

Official website
American Psycho at IMDb
American Psycho script at the Internet Movie Script Database
"AmPsycho2000" E-mails
Movie stills