American Psycho Remake Hits a Casting Wall in the Hunt for Patrick Bateman

American Psycho refuses to die. Twenty-plus years after Christian Bale turned Patrick Bateman into a walking red flag and a pop-culture meme factory, a new version is moving forward — just very carefully.

The hunt for Patrick Bateman

Director Luca Guadagnino is making a new American Psycho, but the toughest part so far is the obvious one: who replaces Bale. According to Bret Easton Ellis, who wrote the 1991 novel, multiple big names have already taken a pass.

"A couple of high-profile actors, whom I can't name, have turned it down. I think maybe because they don't want to be in the shoes of Christian Bale."

Hard to blame anyone for thinking twice — Bale's performance still casts a long, blood-splattered shadow. Jacob Elordi (Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein) and Austin Butler (Dune: Part Two, Elvis) were rumored to be circling at one point. If they were on the list, they don't seem to be anymore.

A new take, not a retread

Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner baked the 2000 film as a pitch-black comedy sharpened into a corporate satire, and it worked. You could tilt the book into straight horror. You could lean even further into the comedy. Guadagnino sounds like he is taking door number three.

"From what I'm told, 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."

If that holds, the next Bateman might sidestep the automatic Bale comparisons entirely. Odd wrinkle: this is being positioned as the third movie version.

Who's driving this and when do we see it?

Guadagnino knows his way around sharp, uncomfortable material (Call Me by Your Name, Challengers), and he is teaming with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns. Producer Sam Pressman is already hyping the result as "mind-blowing."

There is no release date. First they need a Bateman. Then we can start worrying about business cards again.