The story behind the ‘American Psycho’ sex scene
The art of the sex scene is a difficult one to master. It’s so difficult that, in the current film landscape, it seems many directors have given up on the task. Looking to appeal to the widest possible audience to maximise profits, many Hollywood directors have resorted to steering clear of sex entirely.
It’s an understandable measure to take. Shooting sex comes with a number of complexities and concerns for filmmakers, from ensuring actors are uncomfortable on set to reducing your potential audience with a higher MPAA rating. Many cinema-goers have adjusted to the sexless climate, taking the stance that sex scenes are pointless if they don’t serve the plot.
Still, a number of more daring cult directors have continued to include the topic in their movies, from the graphic, unsimulated sex of Lars von Trier to the murderous intercourse in David Fincher’s Gone Girl. Canadian director Mary Harron has also included sex throughout her filmography, from helming a bondage biopic with The Notorious Bettie Page in 2005 to the inclusion of a disturbing sex scene in her Charles Manson biopic Charlie Says in 2018.
But Harron’s most memorable sex scene came from her 2000 adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, American Psycho. Soundtracked by Phil Collins, investment banker-cum-serial killer Patrick Bateman can be seen staring, winking, and pointing at himself in the mirror while having sex with two women before he kills them both. Reflecting on her work, Harron once shared the story behind shooting the sex scene during an interview with Vulture.
Harron recalled speaking with star Christian Bale about the psychology behind the scene, sharing, “With Bateman, I thought he was trying to learn how to be a human being, so if he wanted to learn how to have sex, of course, he watches porn. I talked to Christian a couple days before we shot it, and he decided that because Bateman had watched pornography, we would watch pornography.” Bale’s personal assistant sourced some videos, and the two watched them, notebooks and pens in hand.
The next day, she recalls, “he had done these little stick drawings, and there was one where two girls were giving Bateman a blow job at once. We were laughing, thinking, ‘That’s ridiculous, and it doesn’t make logistical sense, but we’ll do it anyway.’”
The mirror only came into play when they began rehearsing. The room they used had a mirror on the door, and when Harron saw it, she recalls telling Bale, “‘Christian, watch yourself in the mirror as you’re having sex,’ and then he really went with it and was so hilarious.”
But while Harron was directing Bale to have fun with the scene, she directed Cara Seymour and Guinevere Turner, the actors playing the women he has sex with, to play the scene more seriously: “‘For your characters, it’s just a job. You just have to get through this.’” Harron suggests that this direction might not have been made by a male peer: “I think that’s where a male director would have directed it differently. When does the prostitute ever find these things sexy? It’s a job to suck this guy’s dick. He’s having his fantasy, and their faces are adding a sort of counterpoint.”
The ensuing editing process involved some digital removal, but the MPAA were still unhappy with a “three-way sex scene where it looks like there might be rear-entry sex”, and the film received an NC-17 rating. After cutting 18 seconds of the scene, this was reduced to an R rating.
There are few sex scenes that serve the plot and characters more than this one. Harron’s direction ensured that the scene demonstrated the narcissistic, uncaring and hyper-masculine characterisation of Bateman, enhanced by the unwillingness and fear emanating from his victims. It’s a shocking scene that leaves viewers squirming in their seats.
