Christian Bale Revealed He Received Death Threats While Filming This Movie

Christian Bale has revealed that he received death threats while filming American Psycho, one of his most famous and unsettling roles. The actor played Patrick Bateman, a wealthy Wall Street banker with a dark side, in the 2000 film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel.

Before Bale landed the role, it was actually offered to Leonardo DiCaprio. Even though the studio initially said he wouldn’t be involved, Bale refused to give up. He continued preparing for the part and turned down other projects, determined to make it happen.

Speaking to GQ, he said, “I would call Mary [Harron] up, and she would say ‘Christian, they’ve given it to other people,’ and I was like ‘it doesn’t matter, we’re still gonna make it.’ And she was like, ‘Ooh, he’s lost the plot.’ I was turning down other projects and kept on going, and it eventually came back, so that felt like a great victory.”

Bale’s performance shocked audiences with its mix of charm and menace, perfectly capturing Bateman’s snobby, psychopathic nature. However, some reactions were extreme.

Bale recalled one incident where he was warned not to walk down a back alley for fear of an attack. “They called me up, and they went, ‘There’s some person, and they know where you walk every single day, and you go down this back alley, and they say that they’re gonna jump on you and they’re gonna rip your cerebral cortex out of your head. So please don’t go down that alley,’” Bale said.

“So, of course, I was like, ‘I’m going to that alley. I want to see what happens.’ Fortunately enough, I kept walking up and down it going, ‘Where are they? Come on.’”

Even beyond threats, some people misunderstood the film’s dark humor. Bale described meeting Wall Street workers who didn’t recognize the irony of Bateman’s character. “I went and visited all different levels of people at Wall Street. When I got there, they were like, ‘Patrick Bateman, we love ’em.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, ironically, right?’ and they went, ‘What do you mean?’”

American Psycho premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and divided audiences. While some praised Bale’s performance and the film’s sharp satire, others were critical of its violent content.

Upon release, The New York Times called it a “mean and lean horror comedy classic.” Rotten Tomatoes reports 68% positive reviews from critics, summarizing: “If it falls short of the deadly satire of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel, American Psycho still finds its own blend of horror and humor, thanks in part to a fittingly creepy performance by Christian Bale.” Metacritic gave it a score of 64 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews.

Roger Ebert praised Bale for fully embracing the dark role, writing that he was “heroic in the way he allows the character to leap joyfully into despicability; there is no instinct for self-preservation here, and that is one mark of a good actor.”

Other critics had mixed opinions. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said viewers who sympathize with Bateman may enjoy the film, while Newsweek’s David Ansen found it repetitive. J. Hoberman of The Village Voice wrote, “If anything, Bale is too knowing. He eagerly works within the constraints of the quotation marks Harron puts around his performance.”

Christian Bale’s experience shows how far an actor can go to inhabit a role, even when facing extreme public reactions. His dedication helped turn a controversial character into an iconic performance in modern cinema.

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