A new adaptation of American Psycho is on its way, with Challengers director Luca Guadagnino currently in final talks with Lionsgate to helm the project.
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It’s understood that the forthcoming movie will be a whole new take on Bret Easton Ellis’s controversial 1991 satirical novel, rather than a remake of the original film directed by Mary Harron.
Scott Z. Burns, whose writing credits include The Bourne Ultimatum and Contagion, will write the screenplay. Casting details are yet to be announced.
The original film starred Christian Bale as Patrick Batman, a mentally unstable Manhattan-based banker who lives a second life as a gruesome serial killer.
In both the film and novel, it’s not made entirely clear if Bateman is actually perpetrating the acts of horrific violence, or if they are a figment of his imagination, and this has been the subject of debate among fans for decades.
The upcoming project marks Guadagnino’s second foray into genre remakes, having previously directed a new version of Suspiria in 2018, based on Dario Argento’s 1977 Italian supernatural horror.
“We are thrilled to add another elite filmmaker to our upcoming slate,” said Lionsgate motion picture group chair Adam Fogelson (via Deadline). “Luca is a brilliant artist, and the perfect visionary to create a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP.”
‘Challengers’ director Luca Guadagnino is set to helm the new version of ‘American Pyscho’. CREDIT: Warner Bros.
Earlier this year, American Psycho actress Chloë Sevigny said she was “really intimidated” by Bale’s acting process while working on the film.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress said she tried to “respect [Bale’s] process” but found it “challenging because I’m very gregarious and silly and goofy, unbeknownst to the general public.”
“When people take themselves so seriously, I kind of shut down, even though I take my work very seriously and I love acting and whatnot,” she continued. “I was really intimidated by his process and intimidated by him, and I wanted a little more generosity to make myself feel more at ease, which is my own ego.
“It was a really challenging dynamic for me, but I don’t think that I thought he was bad,” she added. “I was just kind of confused, like, ‘Why aren’t you being social?’ I wasn’t even that aware of what the Method thing was. I never had any formal training; I think I was just kind of ‘fake it until you make it.’ But the whole Method thing, I was like, What even is this approach? It was very intimidating.”
She also said that she found Bale’s process especially surprising given that he had started as a child actor.
“It’s not like he studied in college and then became this Method-y, Brando-y kind of thing,” she explained. “He found this journey from being a child actor to then an adult actor that I think is a really interesting trajectory, and I’m curious about that.”
Bale is next set to star as Frankenstein’s Monster alongside Jessie Buckley in director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming movie The Bride. You can find first look images here.
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