Director Luca Guadagnino will be directing a new adaptation of American Psycho, a Brett Easton Ellis novel turned cult classic film about murderous finance metrosexual Patrick Bateman against the fever pitch backdrop of consumerist culture in 1980s white collar New York.
Variety reported that Guadagnino is in the final negotiations to acquire the rights to make the new interpretation of the Easton Ellis classic with a script by Scott Z. Burns.
The past year has been a busy one for Guadagnino whose films Challengers and Queer (premiering November 27) have sent the gay internet abuzz. The homoerotic tension captured in his past projects like Call Me By Your Name might make him the perfect director to tackle the speculated gay subtext of the novel. Queer fans have long-theorized that the protagonist’s blatant misogyny, repressed temper, and murderous tendencies come from Bateman being a closeted gay man.
Aside from wondering how Guadagnino will play with this fan theory in the new adaptation, the announcement leaves one blaring question: Which actor will he cast to be our hot antihero Bateman?
We have some guesses — I can already hear Coleman Domingo’s perfect pronunciation of “Silian Rail” in the iconic business card duel scene. After a the Oscar chatter of Sing Sing, Domingo could embody the calculated, repressed nature of Bateman’s rage given his knack for terrifying or complex characters like in Euphoria, Zola, and Candyman.
Another contenders we definitely don’t want to count out is Prince of Bathwater Barry Keoghan, lest we forget his smoldering-yet-horny anger in Saltburn. Or Alexander Skarsgård who’s portrayed a range of villains in Big Little Lies, Succession, and True Blood. While we’re talking Skarsgårds, the horror genre’s favorite Skarsgård, Bill, could put a more twisted spin on the reboot if you think about his unexpectedly sympathetic role in Barbarian. But to throw in a swerve, Andrew Scott proved he could made evil look good in Ripley and he also just looked plain good in All Of Us Strangers.
Sigh… it will probably just be Jacob Elordi.
We’ll see if the adaptation takes on the gross yet gaudy nature of capitalist consumption today. There’s opportunity to bring the story into an era of Temu and TikTok shop, as the original 2000 film is rife with unnerving scenes like Bateman’s elaborate skincare routine or when he literally tries to feed a cat to an ATM. Perhaps all of it will be neatly packaged into a rich visual text, as Guadagnino is known for, and actually grapple with Bateman’s theorized queerness.
What we do know is that the Lionsgate film will not be a remake of the original adaptation. Instead, it will be an entirely new interpretation of Easton Ellis’ novel.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.
