American Psycho Remake is Coming Because of Course It is
You’d better invest in a better business card because Patrick Bateman is headed back to Wall Street. Deadline exclusively reports that Lionsgate will produce a remake of American Psycho, the 2000 instant classic starring Christian Bale as an 80s New York businessman who enjoyed working out, listening to Huey Lewis and the News, and killing people to sate a bloodlust that wouldn’t go away. Based on the novel by Brett Easton Ellis, American Psycho hit Hollywood like an undetected nuclear bomb, turning Bale into a star and giving a generation an all-timer of a movie character. The remake will be directed by Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love, Call Me By Your Name, Challengers, and another remake, 2018’s Suspiria) and written by Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Informant!, Contagion, Side Effects), and will be “a new adaptation of Ellis’ novel” and “a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP.” There’s no time frame for the latest ill-advised remake, but it appears Lionsgate has wanted to make it for years. The original American Psycho was directed by Mary Harron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Guinevere Turner.
Sure, I’m angry, but honestly, I can only get so worked up about these remakes anymore. It goes without saying that American Psycho doesn’t need a remake because it was done perfectly the first time. Any actor who’d try to follow Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman is insane; there’s no way he will be looked on favorably, with the best-case scenario being that he isn’t as bad as everyone assumes he’ll be, if only in comparison. I imagine the argument will be that this version will be closer to the book than the 2000 film was; I haven’t read the book (although I bought a copy recently, so I’ll get to it soonish), but I have heard that some elements of Brett Easton Ellis’ novel were left out of the film. This brings to mind The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s third novel. King famously hated Kubrick’s movie because it was so different from the book. In the 90s, King had a new version made in the form of a TV miniseries (a lot of his books were made into miniseries throughout the decades) starring Steven Weber as Jack Torrance. The miniseries was closer to the book than the movie was, and King seemed happy with it; he was the only one. Today, Kubrick’s film is considered one of the greatest horror movies ever made, with a legendary performance from Jack Nicholson, while the miniseries created to right its wrongs is a Trivial Pursuit answer. What I’m saying is that sometimes, an adaptation takes on a life of its own and becomes at least as cemented in the culture as the book that spawned it; that’s as true of American Psycho as it was of The Shining.
And let’s be real; a modern remake almost certainly means the story – and certainly the “problematic” Patrick Bateman (because why should a psychotic, unrepentant serial killer make people uncomfortable?) – will be reinterpreted and reinvented for the elusive “modern audience.” That means he’ll be constantly berated by the strong, independent women he now fails to kill because they kick the shit out of him, and the movie will lose any subtlety and nuance and beat the audience over the head with a “toxic masculinity” message. Maybe they’ll update the 80s setting and put the story in the 90s, so Patrick can ask Paul Allen if he likes the Backstreet Boys before doing whatever he does instead of killing him with an axe. (Maybe he’ll call him by the wrong pronouns.) And you know damn well the sex will be toned down considerably if it isn’t entirely removed, unless they decide Patrick Bateman is gay now (in which case he definitely won’t be evil). I can’t imagine anyone wants this movie; American Psycho is incredible and widely loved. I remember reading about it in a magazine’s fall/winter preview and being intrigued, then heading out to see it with a friend in high school and being completely blown away. This was a movie people discovered, and that made it even more personal. You can’t recreate that with a remake. The only way I can see this being worthwhile is if the budget is mega low, and Lionsgate hopes it can recoup the costs and make a small profit based on that. I’d wish them luck, but I don’t want to encourage this behavior. Please fail. I’ll be returning some videotapes.
Let us know what you think of Lionsgate making an American Psycho remake in the comments!
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