‘American Psycho’ Director Can’t Believe Wall Street Bros Idolize Patrick Bateman: “It’s a Gay Man’s Satire on Masculinity”

Twenty-five years after American Psycho first hit theaters, director Mary Harron is still baffled by one thing: the people who admire Patrick Bateman have no idea what the movie is actually saying.

Speaking to Letterboxd Journal, Harron said she never expected Wall Street bros to latch onto Christian Bale’s portrayal of Bateman — a vain, status-obsessed, image-driven serial killer. “I’m always so mystified by it,” she said. “Christian’s very clearly making fun of them.” But in a twisted turn, the exact people the movie skewers now treat Bateman like a style icon or a masculine ideal.

What makes it even more surreal? The entire film was always meant to be a satirical takedown — and specifically, through a queer lens. “It’s a gay man’s satire on masculinity,” Harron said bluntly, referring to the book’s author, Bret Easton Ellis. That piece, she thinks, is completely lost on the crowd that romanticizes Bateman.

Ellis, who is openly gay, understood the subtle homoeroticism embedded in the world of male competition — the suits, the gyms, the business cards, the worship of power. “There’s something very, very gay about the way they’re fetishizing looks and the gym,” Harron explained. And that’s exactly what American Psycho was holding a mirror up to. It wasn’t supposed to be aspirational.

But now, especially in the age of TikTok edits and aesthetic memes, Bateman is often reduced to the shell of wealth, status, and control — stripped of the absurdity and horror. “There’s [Bateman] being handsome and wearing good suits and having money and power,” Harron said, “but at the same time, he’s played as somebody dorky and ridiculous… it’s so embarrassing when he’s trying to be cool.”

For Harron, it’s less about frustration and more about confusion. “Did we fail?” she wondered. “People read the Bible and decide they should go and kill a lot of people. People read The Catcher in the Rye and decide to shoot the president.”

She also didn’t hold back on how the world has evolved — and not for the better. “American Psycho is about a predatory society,” she said. “But it’s much worse now. The rich are much richer, the poor are poorer.” And as for America’s politics? “I never imagined we’d see a celebration of racism and white supremacy in the White House.”

And yet — Bateman lives on. A new film adaptation of American Psycho is already in the works, with Challengers director Luca Guadagnino attached and Austin Butler rumored to play Bateman. Harron didn’t comment on the reboot, but the irony of another generation possibly misunderstanding it all over again hangs heavy.