Credit: Alamy

Huey Lewis still hasn’t seen ‘American Psycho’

Thu 9 March 2023 9:54, UK

Although Huey Lewis and the News are the band most closely associated with the hit 2000 film American Psycho, their bandleader has revealed that he still hasn’t seen the film all these years later. Famously, Lewis initially boycotted the flick after a press release falsely claimed that they pulled ‘Hip to Be Square’ from the soundtrack due to the movie’s graphic violence.

Speaking on the latest instalment of Blink-182 member Mark Hoppus’ After School Radio on Apple Music Hits, Lewis explained that he had read the original Bret Easton Ellis book, and was more than happy to license ‘Hip to Be Square’, for the film.

“When I read the book, it was like a review of art stuff,” Lewis explained. “And not only us, but Phil Collins and Tina Turner, and man, he really knew his stuff, he got us pretty much correct.”

Then, according to Lewis, his manager called him a fortnight later and said that those in charge of the film wanted ‘Hip to Be Square’ in American Psycho, along with “one other song and then a bunch of source music.” In response, he questioned whether it was a good idea to “make our fans buy that for just that one song”. Duly, he decided to politely decline the offer.

In response, the American Psycho team handed out a press release that Lewis still refutes. “On the eve of the release of the movie, they came out with a press release that went everywhere that said that Huey Lewis had seen the movie, and it was so violent that he yanked his tune from the soundtrack, to pump up interest,” he said. “And that pissed me off, frankly, so I boycotted the film. I’ve never seen the film, but I did see the clip when we lampooned it for Funny or Die.”

He has seen the Broadway musical, though.