6 days Ago By Natalie Oganesyan
On the 25th anniversary of American Psycho , director Mary Harron reflected on the darkly satirical film’s legacy in the wake of Donald Trump ‘s second presidency and how misunderstood the movie remains even amid enduring popularity. The filmmaker sat down with Leterboxd Journal , unpacking the movie’s continued relevancy and how it’s been embraced by young women in recent years, in stark contrast to a certain contingent of “Wall Street bro” that has hijacked the thriller-comedy’s critical edge. “It was about a predatory society, and now the society is actually, 25 years later, much worse.
The rich are much richer, the poor are poorer. I would never have imagined that there would be a celebration of racism and white supremacy, which is basically what we have in the White House. I would never have imagined that we would live through that,” she said.
(In the book, Patrick Bateman cites Trump as his preeminent role model.) Watch on Deadline Related Stories Meta Attorney Blasts FTC's Antitrust Case As "At War With The Facts And At War With The Law", Says It Ignores TikTok's Competitive Influence - Update 'Last Week Tonight's John Oliver On Trump's Tariff Fiasco: "We Dodged A Bullet, But The Monkey Still Has A Gun" Speaking to the distortion around the movie’s satirical nature, the Alias Grace director said she is “so mystified” by it, given that star Christian Bale is “very clearly making fun of them.” She continued, “It was very clear to me and [writer] Guinevere [Turner], who is gay, that we saw it as a gay man’s satire on masculinity.
[Author Bret Easton Ellis’s] being gay allowed him to see the homoerotic rituals among these alpha males, which is also true in sports, and it’s true in Wall Street, and all these things where men are prizing their extreme competition and their ‘elevating their prowess’ kind of thing. There’s something very, very gay about the way they’re fetishizing looks, and the gym.” However, Harron said she is pleased to see young women gravitating toward the film, especially given how it was dismissed upon its release in 2000.
“It got a lot of attacks before it came out. And the book got a lot of attacks by people who never read the book. Not that there isn’t a lot of horrific violence in the book, but there’s, to me, a clear critique.
Not just of masculine behavior; it’s a critique of society, of the world of exploitation and consumption and greed and reduction of people ...
So I’m really delighted that young women have started liking it.” As previously reported by Deadline , the classic is getting the reboot treatment for a new generation, with Luca Guadagnino at the helm and The Bourne Ultimatum scribe Scott Z. Burns penning the adaptation.
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