Author Bret Easton Ellis Debunks Rumours of ‘American Psycho’ Remake as ‘Fake News’
‘American Psycho’ author Bret Easton Ellis has called recent rumours that director Luca Guadagnino is producing a new adaptation of his book “Fake News.”
Rather than being a replica of the 2000 film starring Christian Bale, Guadagnino, who is best known for ‘Challengers’, was rumoured to be adapting the novel into a movie in October that would concentrate more on the source material. Austin Butler was reportedly under consideration to play Wall Street financier Patrick Bateman, who has covert psychopathic inclinations.
On his podcast, ‘The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast’, Ellis addressed these claims, voicing his scepticism over the project’s validity. He claimed to have heard from anonymous sources that the movie was not even close to starting production, and he conjectured that the stories were only a ploy to see how interested the audience was.
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Ellis expressed his doubts, saying that no contracts had been signed as far as he was aware. He clarified that Luca Guadagnino had no formal contract, Austin Butler was not confirmed to portray Bateman, and Scott Burns, who was supposed to be writing the screenplay, likewise had no contract. According to Ellis, the rumours were made up to gauge public opinion.
He made it clear that he is not connected to the purported production. He stated that although he is not directly involved in the project and is not creatively involved, he may receive some financial remuneration if the movie is made.
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Christian Bale gave a standout performance as Patrick Bateman in Mary Harron’s 2000 film adaptation of the original ‘American Psycho’. The film has subsequently developed a cult following despite diverging slightly from the book. The plot has since been turned into a stage play, and back in 2021, there were rumours that a TV show was in the works.
Curiously, more than 20 years after the film’s premiere, Huey Lewis, whose music appears in one of its most famous sequences, admitted he had yet to see it.
–Farheen Ali
