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Christian Bale emotes as Wall Street killer Patrick
Bateman in director Mary Harron’s American Psycho.
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Controversy often is the best "buzz" money can buy. So it's no surprise that American Psycho's January 21 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival was more Rock concert than movie screening. A packed auditorium watched Welsh-born actor Christian Bale's performance as the bloodthirsty Wall Street broker Patrick Bateman. In one quick swoop, Bateman picks up a transparent rain slicker and a gleaming ax. He dances a boyish jig with murderous glee. It's only a matter of time before his stylish apartment becomes a puddle of blood.
Bateman's cinematic chaos claims its fair share of victims. At a morning screening a few days later, a moviegoer passes out and is taken to the hospital. The story further seals American Psycho's notorious public profile. Here is a film that can hurt you.
American Psycho director/co-screenwriter Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol) and Bale want to explain the artistry behind their adaptation of the notorious 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel. There's more to this movie about a handsome, young psychopath than meets the eye.
"One thing it's not and that is a realistic, psychological study of a serial killer," says Harron, speaking at an out-of-the-way Park City, Utah, condo. "It's going into his childhood and his experiences. It's not really relevant.
"The film and the book essentially are not naturalistic. It's a somewhat exaggerated, satiric view of a society. It takes the details of the 1980s but turns up the volume on it."
An article written by Harron in The New York Times (April 9) defends American Psycho further. Her goal is a different type of moviemade publicity. For Harron, American Psycho is not a violent film per se, but a satirical jab at the high-living '80s with violence. Much of the film's dark humor is borrowed from slasher films. The bloodletting occurs in a sleek, designer environment. When Bateman attacks his victims, he's listening to cheesy Pop like Huey Lewis and the News' "Hip to Be Square" and Phil Collins' "Sussudio." It was important that Bateman come off as a laughable buffoon instead of some cool stud.
Harron -- working with co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner, wanted to adapt Ellis' novel into a female nightmare about dating. The problem is trying to convince people that there is a difference between American Psycho the film and American Psycho the novel.
Harron first became aware of the book's controversy while working at BBC-TV. She filmed a segment about the feminist criticisms surrounding American Psycho. Protest threats by the group Canadians Concerned About Violence in Entertainment heightened the tension surrounding the film's Toronto-based production.
It didn't help matters when Harron and Bale were pushed aside after überactor Leonardo DiCaprio expressed interest in the film. Lions Gate was willing to make American Psycho into a legitimate blockbuster, offering to pay DiCaprio $21 million to get his heartthrob hands bloody. Eighteen months later DiCaprio passed, and Harron and Bale returned to the project they initiated. Now, on the eve of the film's April 14 release, the task at hand is to prevent American Psycho from becoming misunderstood.
Against a wave of Washington, D.C., punditry about film violence, approximately one year after the Columbine High shootings, American Psycho finds itself in a tumultuous spotlight. Harron remains defensive. She was always careful to keep American Psycho satirical and ironic.
"You only have control over the work itself," she says. "I'm sure it never occurred to Martin Scorsese that someone is going to see Taxi Driver and think, 'I'll shoot the president.' It's a fear you have to live with. You can't determine your work on some possible effect on someone you never intended."
A ratings battle forced Harron to edit 20 seconds of footage between Bateman and two prostitutes in order to earn an "R." Now, American Psycho will find its way into multiplexes. Theaters will play its trailer. Blockbuster will stock its video. Its commercial life is good.
But Harron understands that American Psycho is a tough film for mainstream audiences to embrace. Anyone looking for a sympathetic figure is bound to leave disappointed.
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Photo By Steve Ramos
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Christian Bale with Mary Herron at the Sundance Film
Festival.
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"People are used to being told who to root for, who's good, who's bad and who to sympathize with. Hollywood productions tell audiences what to think and what to feel a lot of the time. They're very heavily guided."
The worst thing that can happen to a controversial movie is to be deemed mediocre. But the debate around American Psycho is too contentious for that to happen. Nothing legitimizes a movie more than hatred. Ironically, American Psycho's more sympathetic audiences will probably come from the Hollywood community itself. It is the one place where Bateman's "if you got it, flaunt it" mentality feels familiar.
"The best parallel outside Wall Street to Bateman and those groups are the Hollywood agents," Harron says, laughing. "These young guys at CAA all drive the same cars. They're all wearing Prada. It's kind of amusing. Now, when I meet these Hollywood agents, I can't help but think of the movie." ©v
