Christian Bale Calls Upcoming American Psycho Remake A “Bold Choice”

The upcoming American Psycho remake is a "bold choice" according to Christian Bale.

Bale played the iconic serial killer and investment banker Patrick Bateman in the original version of the movie released in 2000, which was based on the 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis. Challengers and After the Hunt director Luca Guadagnino shared during the Lionsgate panel at Cinemacon 2025 that he was working on a new American Psycho adaptation, with Scott Z. Burns writing the script.

During the premiere of Bale's new movie The Bride!, The Hollywood Reporter asked if he had any young actors in mind to play Patrick Bateman. The Academy Award-winning star shared that he is open-minded about the possibility of someone else taking on the role, but clarifies that he does not know anything about the project, and calls it a "bold" endeavor. Check out Bale's response below:

“Whoever wants to give it a shot, give it a pop. I loved making it with [director] Mary Harron so many years back, fantastic memories of it all. Bold choice of anyone to try to do a — I don’t know if they’re doing a remake or what, I don’t know anything else about it. But all the best to ’em, I like brave people.”

Bale's comments come shortly after Ellis admitted that the new American Psycho's casting has proven to be difficult, as “A couple of high-profile actors, whom I can’t name, have turned it down” and “I think maybe because they don’t want to be in the shoes of Christian Bale.” The author did emphasize that “this movie is completely different from Mary Harron’s 2000 movie. It’s a completely different take, and going to bear no resemblance to that movie.”

Robert Pattinson, Jacob Elordi, Austin Butler, and Margot Robbie as a gender-swapped version of the character have all been rumored to be playing the new Patrick Bateman, but most of these rumors have been debunked, and the role has still not been officially cast. 26 years later, American Psycho is still widely regarded as one of Christian Bale's best performances, which, as Ellis indicates, makes it all the more daunting for a new actor to step into the part, even if it meant to be a new take on the story.

In ScreenRant's American Psycho review, Grant Hermanns explains that "one of the most important things American Psycho needed to tackle was casting someone we could tolerate watching, regardless of his actions, and Harron certainly hit the nail on the head with Bale." In addition to starring Bale and being directed by Mary Harron, the original film's cast includes Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Bill Sage, Jared Leto, and Willem Dafoe.

With Bale not being involved in the new American Psycho, audiences can instead see him in Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride!, coming to theaters on March 6, in which he plays Frankenstein's monster, known in this story as Frank. Bale has also been cast in Michael Mann's long-awaited Heat 2, although who he is playing remains under wraps, and he is portraying Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis in Madden, in which Nicolas Cage plays the titular NFL coach.

Release Date April 14, 2000

Runtime 101 minutes

Director Mary Harron

Writers Bret Easton Ellis, Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner