American psycho Director Mary Harron admitted that the classic cult film was just as relevant today as when she was released in 2000 while celebrating her 25th anniversary during a conversation with Hasan Minhaj at the Tribeca 2025 festival on June 7.
The horror film, which takes place between 1987 and 1989, follows the investment banker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) as he deals with murderous fantasies. Harron told Minhaj that she believed that Wall Street employees were “dinosaurs” at the time of filming and that we “see” men like that in the future.
“Not that there is no behavior and cupidity raptors of Wall Street,” she continued. “It was true, in fact, for a few years after the film was released. It was much better hidden.” However, Harron pointed out that people are still “reveling in bad behavior” and “the joy of being too racist” today. She continued: “I would never have thought you would see that.”
Minhaj said Bateman seemed to say “the calm part of Loud” in his offices, while people today seem much more comfortable using hateful and offensive rhetoric. Harron accepted and explained that she considered Bateman more as a symbol than a person. “Patrick Bateman is as if you have taken all capitalism, like the capitalism of the 20th century and on the Reagan era,” she said, listing cruelty, contemptuous poor, sexism and racism as some of the problems he was not afraid to glorify. Meanwhile, she said that the character also represents the “triumph” of “male domination and money”.
When Minhaj asked if “the reality now strangely imitates” the intrigue of the film, Harron admitted that his views of the world have changed since it was made. “I would have said when we were doing [the] Film, you know, the arc of history leans towards justice. And now, I think the arch of history is like a corkscrew or maybe a roller coaster, “she said.” Maybe that does not lean towards justice. I would like to think that we will pass through it and that we will find better times. »»
After noting that she would never have imagined that the state of the world would seem to do so in 2025, Harron added: “It’s much worse than when I made the film. You know, open fascism.” She also pointed out that today’s management of society can be “why people still love this film” today.
Harron, who also co-written the scenario with Guinevere Turner, thought about the popularity of Bateman today after Minhaj stressed that there are people who consider the character as an ambitious. “I know that the film is very popular with the guys of Wall Street and Guenièvre and I,” Wait, what? Like, we make fun of that “” she said. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. “
She then theorized that people could find the ambitious character because he “has quite materially that a person would like” and that he “does what he wants”.
The film also includes several mentions of the Trump family, while Donald Trump is mentioned in the novel by Bret Easton Ellis of 1991 of the same name on which the film is based. “It was like a quasi-celex,” she said about Trump’s mention, noting that Bateman’s fiancée, Evelyn Williams (Reese Witherspoon), complained about her obsession with this president. “That, I thought, was really part of her pregnancy.
During the interview, Harron thought about the reason why Bale was the perfect person to play Bateman after the role was driven back several times. “It was very strange because he had done nothing like this before in his work,” she said, adding that Leonardo DiCaprio had briefly had the role.
Harron explained that Bale was the only actor for the role that considered the script as “funny” like her, which gave him confidence that he was the perfect person to play Bateman. “It is fundamentally that we had the same sense of humor,” she said why he finally got the role. “The other actors that I met, some well known and certainly better known than Christian at the time, I could say that they thought that Bateman was a little cool. And for me, it is as if there was nothing cool here. We are not fresh. We are doing the absurdity of him. So, I knew that it was very important that we are on the same page.”
The conversation ended with Harron recalling how difficult it was to make the film until Lionsgate agrees to produce it. “I would never have imagined that she would be so adopted,” she said about the heritage of the film.
