Patrick Schwarzenegger is ready to engage in homicidal behavior on a massive scale.
The White Lotus star has expressed interest in suiting up to play murderous investment banker Patrick Bateman in the new film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ best-selling satirical horror novel American Psycho. Replying to a fan on social media suggesting that Schwarzenegger take on the lead role in the project, the actor replied, “I’d love nothing more,” adding a winking emoticon.
The actor, who has also appeared on Gen V and American Sports Story, enthusiastically reacted to the news that filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Call Me by Your Name) would helm a new version of American Psycho last October. “My dream,” Schwarzenegger wrote in response to a post announcing the project.
Bateman was iconically portrayed by Christian Bale (in a performance that was partially inspired by Tom Cruise) in Mary Harron’s 2000 adaptation of Ellis’ book. Schwarzenegger emulated the star’s look in a photo shoot for a 2021 Vanity Fair issue that paid homage to that film and other aughts classics like Moulin Rouge, Mulholland Drive, and The Royal Tenenbaums, donning a plastic raincoat as well as a professional getup including a red tie and suspenders similar to what Bateman wore in the original movie.
In a CinemaCon video segment teasing his adaptation in April, Guadagnino said he is “working really hard” on the film, noting that Scott Z. Burns’ screenplay for the project is “coming out very handsomely.” He suggested that he has not yet finalized who will embody Bateman, but revealed that he is in “conversation with very exciting performers to play the leads.”
Lionsgate Films / Courtesy Everett Collection
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in 2000’s ‘American Psycho’
One rising star rumored to be in consideration for the project is Austin Butler — but Kerry Barden, who served as casting director for Harron’s film, doesn’t think he’d be a good fit for Bateman, suggesting instead that he play Paul Allen (previously portrayed by Jared Leto) if he comes aboard.
“I would cast Austin in Jared’s role because he’s that beautiful, and that’s why we cast Jared,” she told The Hollywood Reporter last month. “Jared is certainly a great actor as well, and, obviously, Austin has a lot of depth as an actor, too. But not every person has that kind of beauty.”
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Fabio Lovino/HBO
Patrick Schwarzenegger in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3
Schwarzenegger’s fame reached new heights when he starred in season 3 of The White Lotus, playing the protein-shake-swilling eldest son Saxon in a wealthy North Carolina family on the brink of financial disaster. The actor told Entertainment Weekly in March that he was “ecstatic” when he was cast in the show.
“It was such a surreal moment for me to get the audition and to actually book the job because at that point we just had audition sides. We didn’t have the script and we didn’t really know what we were getting into,” he said, adding that he was stunned by his character’s eventual incestuous arc with his younger brother, Lochlan (played by Sam Nivola). “I started to read the scripts and, yeah, when I got to episode 5 and episode 6, it was like, ‘Whoa. This is wild. This is crazy.'”
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