Christian Bale Once Shared ‘American Psycho’ Performance Caused Crew Members to Quit the Film

Christian Bale gave one of his most critically acclaimed performances as the unhinged Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. But the nature of his character, combined with his very visceral performance, created a scenario where crew members had to quit.

Christian Bale said that crew members were forced to quit ‘American Psycho’

Bale’s American Psycho performance risked stirring up a lot of controversy. There was speculation that Leonardo DiCaprio backed out because of the film’s potential impression on his female fans. Although DiCaprio asserted he didn’t do the film because of its substance, or lackthereof.

“Eventually, I realized it [American Psycho] didn’t amount to anything and didn’t mean anything in the end,” DiCaprio once told The Morning Call.

Bale didn’t share DiCaprio’s opinion of the project. He was so determined to clinch the role that he kept preparing for it.

“I mean, they had Leonardo DiCaprio all primed for it, but I just kept rehearsing, training and preparing. People would look at me sort of worryingly, and I’d stare them in the face and say, ‘Listen, I am definitely making this movie,’” Bale once told GQ.

Bale’s persistence paid off. The actor would later go on to star in a film in one of his most memorable performances. But Bale’s character, who would prey on women and cannibalize them, put off many. Although Bale and others had fun on the American Psycho set, certain crew members were forced to leave the project.

“It was a blast. The crew were busted up laughing most of the time. I mean, there were a few crew members whose wives made them quit. But for those who thought we were really psychotic misogynists, most of the crew were women, for Christ’s sake – the director, screenwriters, script supervisor,” he said.

Christian Bale recently found out his co-stars thought his acting was terrible in ‘American Psycho’

Not everyone initially viewed Bale’s performance in a positive light. Bale starred in the film Ford v Ferrari with Matt Damon in 2019. The film saw Bale reunite with his American Psycho castmate Josh Lucas. During their time together, Lucas gave Bale a startling revelation about his acting.

“Josh Lucas and I did a film together recently and he opened my eyes to something that I had been unaware of. He informed me that all of the other actors thought that I was the worst actor they’d ever seen,” Bale told Movie Maker. “He was telling me they kept looking at me and talking about me, saying, ‘Why did Mary fight for this guy? He’s terrible.’”

But their opinions were swayed after seeing the film as a whole.

While other actors thought Bale was not giving a good performance, the Oscar-winner’s acting made some other co-stars uncomfortable. Chloe Sevigny, who played Jean in Psycho, didn’t know what to make of Bale given his method-acting.

“I hadn’t done that many films before, and that an actor would lose himself to such a degree and was so consumed by the part, I was having a hard time kind of… just wanting to socialize with him, but feeling that he didn’t,” Sevigny said. “And then my ego being like, ‘Does he not like me? Does he think I’m a terrible actress?’”

Christian Bale once shared what made doing ‘American Psycho’ risky

Bale couldn’t worry about how he’d come across to audiences while doing the film.

“It wasn’t going to work unless I made myself look absurd,” he once said on Interview.

The actor didn’t see American Psycho as a danger to his career. But he was aware that others thought the film might have a negative impact on his acting future. Still, it wasn’t something Bale seemed to worry about, as he knew what American Psycho was at its core.

“The risk element only came from acknowledging other people’s attitudes toward it, and realizing that they considered it to be a risk for me to do,” he said. “I think people are often far less tolerant when they’re in crowds and feel the need for whatever reason to say, ‘My God, I object to this,’ and, in the case of American Psycho, not seeing it for the intelligent satire that it is. It’s hard to believe that people watching it by themselves, without feeling they have to announce their morality to anybody, would be shocked by it.”