Killer's kicks

Christian Bale and director Mary Harron talk about yuppie killers, Bret Easton Ellis' novel and forbidden sex in the dark satire "American Psycho."

By Mark Ebner

Jan 26, 2000 | Mary Harron's giddy dark comedy "American Psycho" is more entertaining than Bret Easton Ellis' novel was controversial. Adapted by Ellis with Guinevere Turner and set in 1987 Manhattan, the film revolves around narcissistic Wall Streeter Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale). Bateman is the embodiment of the soulless yuppie, a man who works out to a tape of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," revels in brand names and delivers trite lectures on the talents of Whitney Houston before his murders. Bale plays the slasher sociopath like Pierce Brosnan soused on a Tom Cruise cocktail. He's perfect in the role, originally offered to Leonardo DiCaprio for his post-"Titanic" comeback.

The film, which will open wide in early April, picked up a dreaded NC-17 rating, supposedly because of a sex scene between Bateman and two prostitutes. It's likely that they bristled at the sex position, which features the trio in a love train, with Bale watching himself in the mirror as he brings up the rear.

After the Sundance premiere, Harron ("I Shot Andy Warhol") and Bale ("Velvet Goldmine") fielded questions from a roomful of reporters.

Can you discuss the ratings board decision?

Mary Harron: I certainly feel that this thing with the ratings board is about the blank expression of the girls in the sex scene ... I was very concerned with emphasizing the boredom of these girls. The blankness, and their indifference to it.

Christian Bale: That was a real choice because, in the book, they had the girls having multiple orgasms, and screaming ...

Harron: I saw that as a Penthouse Forum fantasy. I mean, these were girls for hire. They're not going to be sexually turned on by a client.

I find it hard to believe that the ratings board is sophisticated enough to try and judge a film by the expression on someone's face. It's my understanding that if there's sex being conducted from behind, that implies forbidden anal sex, and they actually apply "three-stroke" penalties and such. Did any of that come up in your review process?

Harron: Rear entrance sex came up. It did.

What's the scenario in a meeting like that?

Harron: I haven't had any direct contact with the ratings board. We're appealing it, and I will have to file an explanation about what I'm trying to do. And it's difficult. It's kind of complicated, but if there's one thing it's not -- it's not erotic. You know? It's really about this sex for hire.

Did the SCUM Manifesto [the Valerie Solanis tract at the center of "I Shot Andy Warhol"] influence you in making this film?

Harron: Well, you know, I have to say that in some ways, Valerie Solanis would probably approve of "American Psycho" because it is a very harsh view of all these guys' behavior. It's not laudatory. It satirizes them viciously.

Do you think that we're in a different era now as far as your portrayal of these Wall Streeters goes?

Harron: I have to say, I don't regret setting it in the late '80s. Because the thing about the late '80s is that guys like that were really princes, and they were really revered. Everyone regarded the Wall Street guy and the stockbroker as a hero.

What attracted you to Bret Easton Ellis' book?

Harron: I did feel that it was seriously misunderstood. The people who were attacking it, um, weren't allowing for the fact that it was a satire on Wall Street, and on these young Turks. I mean, you can argue about the level of violence in the book, and how much of it should or shouldn't be there, but I don't think you can say it's endorsed in the pages. To me then, it becomes an issue of representation. How much you write about it, how much you show. I thought the book was hilarious.

Will you be satisfied as a filmmaker if the movie comes off to audiences as a brutally dark satire? The way you perceived the book?

Harron: I think it is. But, to me, most of the murders are terrible, and you can't make them comic. The murder of [Bateman's co-worker] Paul Allen is comic. But the murders of the homeless guy and the two women -- they're not played for comedy. You can't. They're not comic. And the murder of Paul Allen is only funny because he and Bateman are so loathed.

Bale: There is always something a little bit comedic, even though it is upsetting. Not so much with the homeless guy he murdered ...

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