Although I'm aware that this is not the proper board, I wanted to first post this here so anyone interested could took notice.
These are very interesting points and curiosities regarding the movie AMERICAN PSYCHO that I came across when searching the web. Good reading, for those that liked the movie.
Enjoy it!!
"The question of Patrick Bateman's Reality There has been much debate among fans as to what extent the movie was supposed to have taken place in Bateman's mind. There are several instances in the movie where the reality of the events is called into question:
After Patrick kills Paul Allen and drags his body through the lobby a blood trail is clearly visible. Later, after Patrick talks to Louis Carruthers, the blood trail is gone.
When Patrick standing in the middle of a street engages in a gun battle with the four policemen, he fires at one of the police cars causing it to explode. Patrick then stares at his gun in obvious disbelief.
When Patrick returns to Paul Allen's apartment, all evidence of his crimes are gone and there is a real estate agent present who appears to have no knowledge of the events that supposedly transpired there (though the real estate agent's hostile attitude and behavior creates ambiguity as to whether she has knowledge and is covering up the crime or not).
Much like the novel, this movie does make a satire of the yuppie society. With that view in mind, it is possible to come to the conclusion that the covering up of crimes and murders existed. This is highlighted when Bateman confronts his lawyer, Harold, and him saying that he had dinner with Paul Allen in London just ten days prior. This presents two possibilities: one, Bateman imagined killing Paul Allen altogether; or, two, as everyone was confusing Bateman with Halberstam, it is possible that in the fake society, no one really knew who anyone was.
Other characters in the movie repeatedly refer to Patrick as a "loser" while mistaking him for someone else. This is taken by some as another example of Patrick's warped sense of reality reflecting his own feelings of inadequacy.
When operating an ATM towards the end of the film, the screen suddenly displays the message "FEED ME A STRAY CAT". Patrick picks up a stray cat nearby, tries to put the kitten into the card slot and pulls out his pistol, when a nearby old woman stops him he shoots her and runs away leaving his credit card in the ATM.
There is conflicting commentary on the DVD from Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner as to whether or not the crimes actually occurred.
There are several occasions when Bateman speaks candidly about his nature in front of others and is completely ignored, however there is scope for the others to not have heard him, in a noisy bar, for instance, or when the other character is inebriated.
[edit] Other cast and crew considerations
Edward Norton was offered the part of Bateman but turned it down.
Brad Pitt was once attached to star, with David Cronenberg directing and Bret Easton Ellis himself writing the script.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Patrick Bateman, James Woods as Donald Kimball and Cameron Diaz as Evelyn Williams with Oliver Stone set to direct from a script written by Matthew Markwalder.
Playwright Jeff Smeenge worked on earlier adaptions of the script prior to new direction by eventual screenwriter Mary Harron
DiCaprio was going to be paid $20 million for the film but the role went to Christian Bale when director Mary Harron returned to the project.
Reese Witherspoon, who has a small role, requested that her character not be involved with any romantic love scenes with the lead character. The role was shortened to her request though the role in the novel was very important and did have a few sexual scenes.[citation needed]
[edit] Notable facts
In the movie, Patrick claims he lives "in the American Gardens building on West 81st." Tom Cruise once lived there.[citation needed] The makers of the film originally envisioned Tom playing the role of Patrick.[citation needed] In the novel, Patrick has a brief encounter with Cruise, who reacts negatively to Bateman (who has a nosebleed induced by cocaine abuse).[citation needed]
Some events that Bateman mentions in the phone message to his lawyer are events that transpired in the book, but not in the film.
In the movie Rules of Attraction (based on another Ellis novel), the main character Sean Bateman receives a phone call from Paul. He initially does not recognize the caller and asks "Who is this? Patrick?" (in the novel, Patrick is Sean's brother. Although filmed, his scenes were cut from the film)
When Bateman concludes his confession in the final scene at Harry's Bar, a wooden door in the background bears a sign reading "This Is Not An Exit." These are the famous last words of the novel, possibly representing the endless cycle that Bateman, and to a greater extent America, must continuously endure. They are also reminiscent of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist play No Exit.
In 2005, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association released an action figure based on Christian Bale's likeness as Patrick Bateman in the American Psycho film as part of its first series of Cult Classics action figures.
The song played at the beginning of the credits is "Something in the Air" by David Bowie, the same song played during the credits of Memento, a film released the same year. The two films share similar themes of warped realities, and Christian Bale goes on to star in Memento's director Christopher Nolan's first blockbuster -- Batman Begins. Also, Bale went on to star in the film The Prestige, also directed by Nolan.
In the Showtime original series Dexter, serial killer Dexter Morgan uses "Patrick Bateman" as an alias.
After meeting the detective for the first time in the movie, Patrick Bateman cuts the meeting short by saying he is having lunch with Cliff Huxtable, the patriarch of the family from "The Cosby Show". Prior to this, he also makes a flippant reference to oil millionaire T. Boone Pickens.
Christian Bale spent several months working out by himself, and then three hours a day with a trainer during preproduction, in order to achieve the proper physique for the obsessed, narcissistic Bateman. "
