1997. Leonardo DiCaprio had just come off Titanic and was the hottest star in the world. He could have his pick of any script. He wanted American Psycho and he almost got it.
Harron had already chosen Bale for the lead when DiCaprio’s interest was announced. The director refused to consider him:
“Leonardo had so much baggage coming of Titanic, like this huge 12-year-old girl fan base,” she said at the time.
But with production company Lions Gate seeing dollar signs, Harron and Bale were unceremoniously dumped.
A Cannes press release announced the news that DiCaprio would be joined by Oliver Stone in the director’s chair. Overnight the film’s budget doubled to $21m.
Common sense finally prevailed – Leo did the multiplex-friendly The Beach and left the slaying to his less high-profile colleague – but Harron was pissed at being sidelined after putting in two years of development work.
So was Bale, who changed agents and lobbied furiously to reclaim the part: “I was mad about it.”
Although the actor hated doing publicity, he realised how important having a high profile was to his career. It's no coinidence that five years later, he'd be on billboards around the globe as The Dark Knight.
In order for that to happen though, he now had to live up to the part.
Next: The Bale Method...
Comments
BenCh
Jul 22nd 2009, 14:04
"Christ. I'll call you..."
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parker
Jul 23rd 2009, 10:13
one of the greatest movies of all time! Don't just stare at it....eat it!
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PadmanForever
Jul 23rd 2009, 12:33
A nice little feature about one of my favourites. This is the should of thing you should try and get on here as much as possible! But don't wear that outfit again.
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panr235
Jul 23rd 2009, 18:45
Awesome article. This parody music video of American Psycho just came out. Pretty funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G29d6RDSK1c
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MadLove4Bale
Jul 26th 2009, 6:44
One of Christian's finest performances bar none!!! So gorgeous,so sexy,so hot!!! He became my favorite actor in the world.I became a die hard Balehead,after seeing this movie,and never looked back.I can't figure out for the life of me,why he never got an Oscar nod for this movie,go figure.... One of my favorite quotes from the movie:"You're a f*ckin ugly B*tch!!! I wanna stab you to death,and play around with your blood" My husband said that to me on our wedding night....We'll be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary next June.Ahhhhhhhhh the memories. Word to the wise: Don't ever underestimate the power of "American Psycho"
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