Did Gloria Steinem convince Leonardo DiCaprio to turn down ‘American Psycho’?
American Psycho could’ve looked a lot different if Leonardo DiCaprio had taken on the role of Patrick Bateman instead of Christian Bale.
While DiCaprio is a versatile talent, it’s hard to imagine the actor ditching the floppy-haired heartthrob image in favour of the cold and calculated Bateman, a businessman-turned-serial killer with a gleefully sardonic edge. Bale played the character so well, swapping out his English accent for that of an American and occupying Wall Street with an intense stare, only just hiding his competitiveness and insecurity.
Director Mary Harron was set on casting the relatively unknown Bale as Bateman – his last major role had been Empire of the Sun when he was a child – but the studio wasn’t keen. He didn’t have the star power they wanted, even if Harron was adamant that he was perfect. When it looked like things weren’t going to go their way, the movie almost turned into an Oliver Stone and DiCaprio vehicle. Now, that would’ve been completely different.
DiCaprio had not long appeared in several movies that cemented him as one of Hollywood’s biggest teen icons – Romeo + Juliet and Titanic. With the latter, DiCaprio set hearts alight; James Cameron’s movie was a megahit that propelled the actor to heights hardly experienced by your average Hollywood star. He transcended his place as an actor and became a mythic figure, the epitome of iconic celebrity status.
So, with a legion of young fans watching his every move, the question arises – ‘Would it have been wise to take on the role of a serial killer who murders prostitutes?’, and according to co-writer Guinevere Turner, feminist activist and writer Gloria Steinem might have had something to do with him ultimately turning the part down, which led Bale to secure the career-defining role.
“I believe I’m the one who started that rumour,” Turner told Vice. “I mean, I don’t know if it’s a rumour. My friend, who had just spoken to Gloria Steinem, said that Gloria Steinem took Leonard DiCaprio to a Yankees game, I believe, and said, ‘Please don’t do this movie. Coming off of Titanic, there is an entire planet full of 13-year-old girls waiting to see what you do next, and this is going to be a movie that has horrible violence toward women.’”
Even though American Psycho was a satirical look at masculinity written and directed by women, the script surely read rather alarmingly. Regardless of how Steinem interpreted the story, she certainly didn’t want a bunch of teenage girls, who would inevitably tune into a new DiCaprio film for the sake of their celebrity crush, watching such a gruesome movie. We’ve all been there.
No one knows for sure if Steinem was truly responsible for DiCaprio dropping out of the project, but interestingly enough, a few months after the release of American Psycho, with Bale as Bateman, Steinem would marry the actor’s dad, David Bale.
It’s a good job that the movie didn’t work out with DiCaprio, because Bale did such a perfect job of playing Bateman, even staying in character when the cameras stopped rolling to get into the mind of such a twisted killer. Soon, Bale went from Bateman to Batman, starring in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, which elevated his career to even greater heights.
