Bale’s OTT, near-camp performance is the nearest he’s come to doing comedy. Harron was in stitches watching him: “The thing is, Bateman has no centre. He’s trying to look at other people and see how they behave.
"When I saw the dailies of Christian’s scene with Willem Dafoe in the restaurant [when Bateman has lunch with the detective tracking one of his victims] I just burst out laughing.
"Christian was so funny. He’s watching Willem Dafoe eat, watching how he’s using the salt, watching how it’s done. You know, how do you eat a steak? Christian plays him so it’s almost like a Martian come to Earth trying to pass off being human.”
The genius of the performance is that the more insane Bale makes Bateman, the more we sympathise with him. By the end, as he becomes a gibbering wreck trying to feed stray cats into ATMs, we even feel sorry for him.
Unlike his fellow bankers, anonymous clones constantly being mistaken for one another, Bateman knows that their yuppie lifestyle is essentially mad – an endless parade of designer labels that’s soulless and emotionally bankrupt.
Only the truly mad could stay sane in such a world.
Next: The Reception...
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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