A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
Acting
Bale's precision—every blink and breath is calculated madness.
Direction
Harron weaponizes male gaze against itself, gloriously.
Writing
Monologues on Whitney Houston that will haunt you forever.
Director
Mary Harron
Christian Bale
Patrick Bateman
Justin Theroux
Timothy Bryce
Josh Lucas
Craig McDermott
Bill Sage
David Van Patten
Chloë Sevigny
Jean
Reese Witherspoon
Evelyn Williams
Samantha Mathis
Courtney Rawlinson
Matt Ross
Luis Carruthers
Jared Leto
Paul Allen
Willem Dafoe
Donald Kimball
Cara Seymour
Christie
Guinevere Turner
Elizabeth
Stephen Bogaert
Harold Carnes
Reg E. Cathey
Homeless Man
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bale based his performance on Tom Cruise after seeing him on Letterman—intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes.
The novel's author Bret Easton Ellis hated the film initially, later admitting Harron and Bale made it smarter than his book.
US
