American Psycho
By Kit Macdonald
Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner's 2000 adaptation of Brett-Easton Ellis's 1991 novel was divisive when it came out but in the 24 years since, the growing popular consensus has been that it is a brilliantly realised version of some extremely challenging source material. Ellis has remained somewhat on the fence about the film, but has at least acknowledged that it clarifies and properly expresses his deeply satirical intent.
Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ewan McGregor were all slated to play Patrick Bateman at various points in the process of adapting the book for screen, and names such as David Cronenberg and Oliver Stone slated to direct. But Harron, Turner and the relatively unknown Christian Bale persisted and finally got the green light as a trio. The results were a movie that managed to sink a lot of the accusations of misogyny that dogged the book, and a star-making performance from Bale as the psychopath with no discernible human qualities who manages to single-handedly personify the brutalities of an era.