American Psycho (2000) on Netflix
Patrick Bateman, a wealthy investment banker in 1987 New York City, is engaged to Evelyn Williams and moves through a circle of associates he despises. He keeps violent impulses hidden.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.6/10856,720 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
Patrick Bateman is twenty-seven, wealthy from birth and from his job at a Wall Street firm, and careful about how he appears to others. He dines at fashionable restaurants and moves among rich acquaintances he privately despises, and he is engaged to Evelyn Williams. At a business meeting he and his colleagues show off their business cards, and Bateman is enraged because he thinks his colleague Paul Allen's card is better. His envy grows over Allen's wealth and his easy access to Dorsia, the elite restaurant that Bateman cannot get into. At a Christmas party Bateman makes dinner plans with Allen, who takes him for a different colleague, Marcus Halberstram, and speaks down to him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about American Psycho (2000)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- David Cronenberg was attached to direct with Brad Pitt as Patrick Bateman, and told Bret Easton Ellis to drop the restaurant and nightclub material, cut the violence and keep the script to 65-70 pages. Ellis called the notes insane, ignored them, and ended his draft with a musical number to Barry Manilow's "Daybreak" atop the World Trade Center.
- Lionsgate was ready to pay Leonardo DiCaprio, fresh from Titanic, a fee of $20 million on a film budgeted at $6 million. Mary Harron refused even to meet him, arguing he was too boyish for Bateman and that his young female following would harm the picture.
- With Harron back, Lionsgate still fought her over Bale. The part was offered to Ewan McGregor, who refused after Bale personally asked him to, and Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Edward Norton and Vince Vaughn all declined, after which the studio grudgingly hired Bale for a salary of $50,000.
- American firms would not be associated with the film, so clothes and cosmetics came from European companies, and even they set conditions: Rolex made Harron change the novel's line "don't touch the Rolex" to "don't touch the watch", and Cerruti 1881 would not let Bale wear its clothes in the murder scenes.
SPOILER
Harron and Bale kept Jared Leto out of rehearsals for the axe murder of Paul Allen so his shock would be genuine, and the theatrical blood allowed only a few takes. The blood landed on just half of Bale's face by accident, which Harron kept as a metaphor for Bateman: pristine outside, psychotic inside.- Huey Lewis and the News' "Hip to Be Square" is heard in the film and was meant to be on the soundtrack album, but it was pulled and Koch Records had to recall about 100,000 copies; Whitney Houston also refused to let her recording of "The Greatest Love of All" be used, so an orchestral arrangement replaced it.
