Neither Hannibal Lecter nor Charles Manson: This is the actor who inspired Christian Bale in ‘American Psycho’

If most actors were told that their next role would be a psychopath, they would likely prepare by studying serial killers, real or fictional. However, Christian Bale is not just any actor. His first inspiration for portraying Patrick Bateman was none other than Tom Cruise, not in one of his films but in one of his many television appearances.

At the time, by the 1990s Cruise was already a major star thanks to Top Gun, Born on the Fourth of July, and the first of the Mission: Impossible franchise came out in 1996. That year he gave high-profile interviews such as the one on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, which has been attributed as the one that inspired Bale for the “Martian-like Patrick Bateman.”

However, according to Mary Harron, director of American Psycho, it was actually an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman that Bale found fodder for what a person who “was looking at the world like somebody from another planet, watching what people did and trying to work out the right way to behave” would look and act like.

“[Christian] called me and he had been watching Tom Cruise on David Letterman, and he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes, and he was really taken with this energy,” she told BlackBook.

Bale was struck by Cruise’s outward image, full of warmth yet contrasted by the striking coldness in his gaze. Of course, Cruise was not his only inspiration. The Welsh actor also studied the behavior of Wall Street yuppies from the 1980s, along with the poses and mannerisms of men obsessed with image and success.

Advertisements for men’s cosmetics and fashion runway models also served as references. As is typical for Bale, he pushed the preparation even further.

Bret Easton Ellis, author of the novel on which the film is based, never believed the movie would actually be released because of criticism labeling it misogynistic and excessively violent. Some of the most brutal scenes, such as the murder of Paul Allen, played by Jared Leto, were filmed in a lighthearted atmosphere. Bale’s occasionally exaggerated performance often made the crew laugh, especially the dance he performs before striking Allen with the axe.

American Psycho became the breakthrough that firmly established Christian Bale as a top-tier Hollywood actor, despite the fact that he had started very young, as a child in Empire of the Sun, directed by Steven Spielberg.

Where to watch American Psycho

Currently, American Psycho is available to rent on a number of platforms in the United States.

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