‘American Psycho’ director “mystified” by Donald Trump supporters misinterpreting the film
Mary Harron, the director of the classic film American Psycho, has said she is “mystified” by supporters of US President Donald Trump who manage to misinterpret the meaning of the movie.
The film, based on the 1991 novel by Brett Easton Ellis, was released 25 years ago and stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a wealthy businessman in the 1980s who disguises his psychotic behaviour to those around him.
However, Harron discussed with Letterboxd Journal the fact that certain groups of men online see the character’s persona traits as something to aspire to. Contrastingly, she says, “It was very clear to me and [writer] Guinevere [Turner], who is gay, that we saw it as a gay man’s satire on masculinity.”
She added: “[Ellis] being gay allowed him to see the homoerotic rituals among these alpha males, which is also true in sports, and it’s true in Wall Street, and all these things where men are prizing their extreme competition and their ‘elevating their prowess’ kind of thing. There’s something very, very gay about the way they’re fetishizing looks, and the gym.”
Harron continued by saying that the film was a dissection “not just of masculine behaviour; it’s a critique of society, of the world of exploitation and consumption and greed and reduction of people.”
With the re-election of Donald Trump – one of Bateman’s heroes – as US President, the director also discussed how the film is perhaps more resonant than ever: “It was about a predatory society, and now the society is actually, 25 years later, much worse,” she said.
“The rich are much richer, the poor are poorer,” Harron noted, before adding, “I would never have imagined that there would be a celebration of racism and white supremacy, which is basically what we have in the White House. I would never have imagined that we would live through that.”
Meanwhile, Luca Guadagnino is currently developing a remake of American Psycho. Speaking at CinemaCon earlier this month, Guadagnino told those in attendance: “We are really working hard to bring to the screen a new adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, a book that I deeply love that is something that influenced me so much.”
Guadagnino confirmed that Scott Z Burns is working on a script, which he praised, noting, “He’s doing an incredible job. The script is coming out very handsomely.”
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