Summary
American Psychostars Josh Lucas and Chloё Sevigny discuss Christian Bale’s performance in the film. Bale played Patrick Bateman, an investment banker plagued with hyper-violent visions that drive him down a psychopathic path.American Psychowas releasedback in 2000 and was directed by Mary Haron. In addition to Bale, Sevigny, and Lucas, the film featured Justin Theroux, Bill Sage, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, and Matt Ross.
Speaking withVanity Fair, Lucas and Sevigny talked about Bale’s performance inAmerican Psycho. Lucas recalled being put off by his first scene with Bale, saying that “he seemed so false.” Later,Lucas realized that he was “capable of having these crazy layers going on in what he was doing.”Sevigny added that it was hard to first respect Bale’s intense process because she is “very gregarious and silly and goofy,” and Lucas explained the difference between good and bad method actors. Check out the full quotes from Sevigny and Lucas below:
Lucas:I didn’t realize what a subversive comedy it was. I didn’t realize the way that Mary was going to turn it on its head. I don’t know if you felt this way, but I actually truly remember thinking that Christian Bale was terrible. [Laughs] I remember the first scene I did with him, I watched him and he seemed so false—and I now realize that it was this just f*cking brilliant choice that he was making. That was an actor who was at such a completely different level already, and that he was capable of having these crazy layers going on in what he was doing. I thought it was bogus acting at the time, but was exactly the opposite.
Sevigny:I was trying to respect his process, which I found challenging because I’m very gregarious and silly and goofy, unbeknownst to the general public. When people take themselves so seriously, I kind of shut down, even though I take my work very seriously and I love acting and whatnot. I was really intimidated by his process and intimidated by him, and I wanted a little more generosity to make myself feel more at ease, which is my own ego. It was a really challenging dynamic for me, but I don’t think that I thought he was bad. [Laughs] I was just kind of confused, like, Why aren’t you being social? I wasn’t even that aware of what the Method thing was. I never had any formal training; I think I was just kind of “fake it until you make it.” But the whole Method thing, I was like, What even is this approach? It was very intimidating.
Lucas:There’s a really weird bridge, as you know, between bad Method actors—who I find really, really terrible to work with—and the ones like Christian, [who’s] not paying attention to f*cking anything else but what he’s doing. I have nothing but admiration for that, because a lot of Method actors are actually kind of distracting with the fact that their process is more important than anything or anybody else.
Sevigny:It’s kind of surprising that Christian would be emotionally invested the way he is, because he was a child actor. It’s not like he studied in college and then became this Method-y, Brando-y kind of thing. He found this journey from being a child actor to then an adult actor that I think is a really interesting trajectory, and I’m curious about that.
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Christian Bale’s Acting Strategy In American Psycho Explained
As bothAmerican Psychostars referenced in their quotes,Bale used a Method acting stylewhen performing in the film. Sevigny did a good job explaining how Method acting manifests on set in narrating her past thoughts towards Bale, such as “Why aren’t you being social?” Method actors typically spend their time on set fully immersing themselves in their characters, whether the camera is rolling or not. If the character has an accent, the actor will speak in that accent, and if the character is reserved, they will act like such.
ForAmerican Psycho, that meant thatBale had to carry himself with a disconcerting intensityat all periods. As described by Lucas, Bale was “not paying attention to f*cking anything else but what he’s doing.” Sevigny’s analysis of Bale was also insightful in that she found his performance tactics surprising givenBale’s careerhistory as a child actor rather than an acting school-bred talent.
Another notable factor in theAmerican Psychoset is the fact that Leto was a supporting actor in the film, as theSuicide Squadstar was later known for engaging in his own form of Method acting. From cast reports,Leto, unfortunately, seems to fall more into the camp of difficult Method actorswho cause disruptions with their behavior rather than keep to themselves. Given how early on inLeto’s careerAmerican Psychofell, the actor likely took inspiration from Bale, but might have chosen a different way of applying it.
American Psycho
Cast
Based on the book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) an investment banker in New York in 1987 who leads a double life as a serial killer. As investigators circle Bateman after the disappearance of a colleague, he finds himself trapped in a spiral of murder and excess, unable to stop himself from giving in to his increasingly dark urges. Also stars Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, and Reese Witherspoon.
