American Psycho - Movie

Hannah: This podcast contains graphic and explicit content.
Emily: This podcast contains graphic and explicit content. Listener discretion is advised. friends, welcome to Adaptation Addicts. My name is Emily and I love movies.
Hannah: And my name is Hannah and I love books, You
Emily: and we especially love when books get turned into movies. Our premise is simple. First, we read a book. Then we its movie adaptation. And after that, ⁓ we break down everything. The good, the bad, and the how dare they change that. We go deep. into these books and we go hoooored on their movies. So welcome to the cutting room floor where every scene is spoiled and no take is left unexposed.
Hannah: Oop oop. ⁓ no, there is no take.
Emily: But enough of that, this week we are wrapping up the controversial American Psycho.
Hannah: Oh boy, it's very controversial as we discussed in our book version. I mean, there are some countries you have to when you buy this book, it is shrink wrapped. Which I think is.
Emily: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I want, ⁓ for the book, a thousand percent, a thousand percent. So I just want to like test the waters. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Hannah, how did you feel about American Psycho the movie?
Hannah: Yes. ⁓ huh. I never need to watch it again. mean, it's thumbs down. It's not it's not my movie. horror doesn't get ⁓ out, get body horror, none of that. Thankfully, ⁓ because I read the book, I was ready. ⁓ And so ⁓ the movie to be tamer than the book because, know, they want to actually have people see it and not write then.
Emily: Yeah, thumbs up.
Hannah: not have it rated NC-17. So like, we'll talk about it, but like I was ready for what came out. I just, I, that's not my kind of movie.
Emily: very fair. Now I would say a thumbs up for me. I enjoyed it more than I disliked it but I didn't enjoy it as much as I liked it when I was in college which I think definitely makes sense.
Hannah: Okay. I'm... I mean, were there substances involved when you saw it in college? Oh, I would have assumed at least alcohol.
Emily: No. Yeah. No, this was back in the day when I had the Netflix physical subscription. And so I would just go through Netflix and add to list, add to list, add to list. And one day it was so I would forget what movies I ordered and they would just show up. And I'm like, OK, what's this? And so in college, what was it? You know, probably junior year of college, ish.
Hannah: Whoa. OG Netflix. ⁓ yeah, they bank on that. ⁓ huh. ⁓ my god, what a- Yeah, that would have been about right.
Emily: was in. I fucking loved it.
Hannah: That, ⁓ what a blast from the past when the movies used to come in the mail.
Emily: Oh my God. Honestly, I kind of missed it because just like putting a bunch of books on hold at the library, you kind of forget what's there and all of a sudden you get a notice, your book is ready. You're like, I have no idea what this is. Let's fucking go.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. You've, yep, and. And there's no choice. You just, that's what you're gonna watch. That's what you got. And versus instead of like now, I get paralyzed by choice.
Emily: This is what you're gonna watch? ⁓ for sure, ⁓ for sure. Not only do I get paralyzed by choice in let's say Netflix, I'm paralyzed by choice just picking what platform I want to start with.
Hannah: I like, I... Mm-hmm. Honestly, I have, we, I forget that I have access to Disney, so that helps. that on a very regular basis. ⁓ I okay, we do use it on occasion, especially with Evie, but no, we do use it on occasion. ⁓ I let my ⁓ HBO go and ⁓ the thing that I'm sad is I ⁓ haven't able to see the season of The Pit, ⁓ but other than like I don't miss it. Like I only really. ⁓
Emily: About to say, if you're not using it, I will cancel it. Mmm, I literally
Hannah: watch Netflix and I'm totally fine with it.
Emily: And you're with that. I could probably drop Netflix and not be too upset about it. But I can't get rid of HBO. I use HBO on a daily basis.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. ones.
Emily: Can do. Should we talk about American Psycho? American Psycho, released April 14, 2000. Earlier that year, had released at
Hannah: Yeah, ⁓
Emily: Cannes Film Festival, very fancy, to mixed reviews. And that will be a, just like us, that will be a theme of reviews. It is rated R for strong violence, sexuality, drug use, and language. Accurate. Runtime, one hour, 42 minutes, I'll be honest. It was like good. It probably could have been shaved down even a little more, but I thought that was a perfectly fine runtime.
Hannah: Ooh, fancy. A theme. Yep. Yup. Yeah. Well, I told you where I took a break. took a break when the prostitute comes back the second time. Yeah, Christie, she comes back and I turned it back on the second night. was like, that was it? It's over? Great. It was lovely.
Emily: Yes. Christie, Yeah, right there. Genre tags, crime, drama, horror, all accurate. I would say also it should have said like black comedy because again, we are about to get into it, but they made a very conscious effort to lean into the satire. It's so much more of a satire than the book ever was. Yep. Yes. tag lines. ⁓ introduction necessary.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And I got it more in the movie. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It definitely was hit you in face more. I mean, I've experienced worse.
Emily: I've experienced worse. How about this one? Killer looks. I don't hate it. I don't hate it.
Hannah: Yes, that what I like. mean, there were times when it's like, okay, if I have to deal with the fact that this man's a psycho, at least he's pretty. He is ripped. ⁓ the bad boy. ⁓ Yes. I think I even made a note of like the original self care.
Emily: At least it's baby Christian Bale and he has the most beautiful, mean, whatever he's doing, like that routine, legit, that skin routine he talks about, his skin was glowing. ⁓ Fun fact that I had nowhere else to put this information, but according to Mary Haran, the director, Christian Bale could control his sweat glands. like during the, I know. So during the business card scene, he starts sweating. He just did that ⁓ the moment as like an ad lib, if you can ad lib sweating. So he just can make himself sweat. Like, I don't know. Magic. Magic. (Editor note: that's fucking crazy)
Hannah: Yes. Excuse me? Yes. You can add lips. huh. That is so, yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Emily: ⁓ Directed, like I said, by Mary Haran, who also wrote the screenplay with... Guinevere? ⁓ I should... Guinevere Turner?
Hannah: Mm-hmm. That's so interesting to me, like, I, that it was two women that wrote it and then a woman who directed it. I'm, I am, I'm really curious. That's so curious about it.
Emily: to women. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's why. So and some, some, didn't like save any links or anything, but some, view this as a feminist movie, highlighting the sat, through satire, highlighting the chaos and hypocrisy of the white American male.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Okay.
Emily: and like how toxic the ⁓ entire lifestyle is.
Hannah: Sure, sure, okay. Yeah. I mean, I think they could have leaned harder, but yeah.
Emily: into the satire, but then it would have not been the book, right? Like I get where they're coming from. They do have to have the balance of this ⁓ is the source material. ⁓ so Brett Easton Ellis thought forever that this was gonna be an unfilmable movie. And some people tried. ⁓ Let's see, who was it? It doesn't matter.
Hannah: I guess, yeah. Yeah. Swiss material, sure. Mm-hmm. Sure. I mean, it doesn't really surprise me that it took two women to make it palatable for a movie because they had they have the perspective of being women and they're not going to lean into the toxicness of it and be able to. Yeah, it made a lot of sense to me that it took women to make this movie happen because they would be able to maybe separate some like the maleness of it and
Emily: Yeah. Yeah, well, and this will come up. I get you. This will come up a little bit later. like one thing that, you know, Easton Ellis noticed with the other scripts that had been written about it some actors who had been considered for this role, he was like, these people think that he's cool. These people think that Patrick Bateman is the cool guy. ⁓ And both. ⁓
Hannah: Yeah, man. I don't know I'm trying to say. ⁓ no, that's not okay.
Emily: No, Alice didn't think that was okay. And then Mary Heron was like, absolutely not. He is such a dork. He's the dorkiest dork that ever dorked.
Hannah: No. Yeah. Yep. He might, he might be beautiful, but he's a dorky, dork. You don't want, he's not the hero. You cannot even get close to saying that he's any kind of person you're trying to emulate.
Emily: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No. No. So I think it was like around 94. Easton Ellis was approached by a producer who had bought the rights and they said, hey, can you write a script for us? And at this point, he was so over his own book, he's like, I don't fucking want to do this anymore. And he. Yeah, well, that too. But he's also bored. He's like, I'm so sick of this. So the script he wrote.
Hannah: Sure. Well yeah, a costume, his publisher, yeah, I can understand.
Emily: 100 % completely different. Like some names were the same, everything was different. And I believe it ended with a musical number on top of the World Trade Center. Yes! I would have been in. Oh my god.
Hannah: Honestly, where's the musical number? We're talk about the music because I I'm excited to talk about the music bits cuz I
Emily: Well, and I had forgotten, because I think I even said this in our episode, I thought it was only Huey Lewis in the news. I totally forgot that he did do Phil Collins and he did do Whitney Houston.
Hannah: Mm-mm. ⁓ I loved how they integrated that in. was like, okay, this works. It made it funny.
Emily: Yeah, no. It did. It made it so funny and it made it make sense. The chapters, standalone chapters made no sense. But this it was really well handled. Yeah. So like I said, Mary Heron ⁓ came on very quite quite a few years after the rights had been purchased. And she spent a long time writing with ⁓ Guinevere Turner and they
Hannah: Yeah, it made the whole chapter. Mm-hmm. Yep. But they were able, yeah. Great.
Emily: came with a couple concepts and I have, I got the feeling from the Wikipedia that they were not being taken very seriously. the, they were, ⁓ Mary Heron was, I'm just gonna call her Heron. That seems like a professional thing to do. She had been interviewing and auditioning a bunch of actors and I can't remember who it was. Someone gave, someone who had worked with Heron in the past gave, Christian Bale the script and he originally passed on it. He was not interested. No, they had they had talked to him. He was not interested because he had never wrote the book. He didn't know anything about it. Then he talked with someone on the set of another movie and that person had worked with Heron in the past and then he got the script read the script and he was like, ⁓ this is actually the best thing I've ever read. So Heron and Bale met and like basically became work soulmates. They worked so closely and so well for so long. The studio almost pulled, did, did pull funding from this film because they did not want Christian Bale to be the lead because he had only done really one big movie when he was 13. no, Newsies Newsies when he was 18, but his big movie is a Steven Spielberg film called Empire of the Sun? ⁓
Hannah: ⁓ really? Newsies? Newsies? Newsies? ⁓ well. That sounds familiar. Yep.
Emily: Right? So that was his big film and he hadn't like Newsies as much as we love it. Newsies was not a critical hit. You've never seen it?
Hannah: You I have a confession. I've never seen his version of Newsies.
Emily: Describe my face.
Hannah: She is shocked and awed and disgusted with me. I think disgust might be the right word.
Emily: Disgust is absolutely the right word. What the fuck is wrong with you? It's like 90 minutes absolute maximum. It's probably 80 minutes. That's wonderful. And it's so different. I cannot stress this enough. It is so different. Jeremy Jordan's version doesn't have Bill Paxton.
Hannah: I don't know. I've seen... Have seen the Jeremy Jordan stage production? ⁓ yeah, I imagine it is because it's, you know, a movie. ⁓ Bill Paxton.
Emily: and Anne Margaret directed by Kenny Ortega.
Hannah: Margaret who? Oh, oh my, oh, I forgot it was directed by Kenny. right. Maybe I do have to. ⁓ There's ⁓ Okay. do. I do need to see Christian Bale dance.
Emily: And you get to see Christian Bale dance! Anyway, Christian Bale was a nobody and the studio's like, you cannot cast an absolute nobody in the lead role of one of the most controversial book adaptations of all time. You can't do it. And she's like, yes, I can. And they were like, and they were like, you're fired.
Hannah: I feel like you should.
Emily: They fired her because the studio had someone else in mind for Patrick Bateman. We will get to it. So, actually, no, let's do it right now. Okay, so I have a game. I have a game. I'm going to... This is the new game. This is new game. So I'm going to give you four names of actors, that were big ⁓ ⁓ time period.
Hannah: Who did they want? ⁓ okay. All right, sorry. Okay. Yes. I like games. ⁓ is this the new game that you just got that we... ⁓ the new game. Okay. Okay.
Emily: And you are going to tell me which one of them was considered for the role of Patrick Bateman. Are you ready? Okay. Number one. And now remember this, they're filming what? 99? 98? Number one, Johnny Depp. Number two, Leonardo DiCaprio. Number three, Ian McGregor.
Hannah: Yes, I'm ready. ready. Okay. 1999, 98, yeah. Okay. Hmm.
Emily: Number four, Billy Crudup. Which one of these men was considered for the role of Patrick Bateman?
Hannah: you Alright, I feel like Leo was too When was crybaby, was Johnny also too busy?
Emily: Cry baby. Was 1990.
Hannah: Or he was also doing 21 Jump Street. Okay, so 10 years later so I Want to say it's Billy
Emily: It's a trick question. All four of them were offered this role. So.
Hannah: Oh my gosh. Okay. Oh, I think okay. Oh, well, all right. So I was right. I was 25 % right.
Emily: You were right. Billy did accept it and then backed out. A few months later, he was like, you know what? I've thought about it and it's too rich for my blood. ⁓
Hannah: okay. This is not something I watch, no.
Emily: Johnny Depp was offered or expressed interest. should have said he expressed interest. and in Micraga. He, was, offered and I believe turned it down or he was in talks and then ended up backing out Leonardo DiCaprio was the studios choice. ⁓ They hired him fired Mary Heron. He in Oliver Stone to direct. ⁓
Hannah: Okay. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. Okay. Okay?
Emily: And they went back and forth for like a year, for so long. Finally, I'm name dropping all the fuck over. Gloria fucking Steinem.
Hannah: ⁓ my gosh. I do know who that is because that is, I remember this in my research, because that is Christian Bale's stepmom. And she was a huge, yes, yes, yes. Mm-hmm. Gloria Steinhem was Christian Bale's stepmom. And she was a huge critic of this book.
Emily: No.
Hannah: It's in this I swear it's in the Wikipedia page of the book.
Emily: ⁓ my god, yeah. Feminist icon Gloria Steinow was the stepmother of actor Christian Bale.
Hannah: Yes, yes. And she's a huge critic of the book. And it was as big like, ⁓ yeah. Ha ha ha ha. Your face is amazing. So to describe Emily's face, jaw cannot go any farther down is going to hit the floor. She is flabbergasted.
Emily: Absolutely
Hannah: glad I didn't pull out that fun fact last time. ⁓ did she do? Yeah. Yes. ⁓ huh.
Emily: my God, I'm so glad because here's the thing again, Gloria Steinem, critic of this book, talked to Leonardo and he, she was like, Hey, my guy, all of your fans are 12 year old girls. If you do this film, ⁓ ⁓ destroy everything. And so finally, Leo was like, I'mma back out because of Gloria Steinem. ⁓ this whole, this nine months that,
Hannah: Yeah, you're gonna screw that up. Mm hmm. Yes. Yeah. Good, good.
Emily: Mary Harren wasn't there and Leonardo and Oliver fucking Stone were working on this film. Christian Bale.
Hannah: Heron. Heron.
Emily: was so sure that they were gonna back out that he kept up his workout regimen, kept preparing for this role. He was practicing his accent. He got his teeth fixed. I don't know how he was tanning. He was working out every single day. He was becoming Patrick Bateman the entire nine months. And so the studio brought back Mary Heron.
Hannah: ⁓ my God. Are you kidding? He was becoming Patrick Bateman. That's ins... Wow. Wow.
Emily: and then they finally acquiesced okay fine you can have Christian Bale but we get big name supporting actors enter Willem Dafoe this motherfucker has been 76 for 85 years he was born 76
Hannah: Sure, fine. Yeah. Yes. Yes, yes. Yep. Yep. It's kind of ⁓ Stewart. He's been old ⁓ 40 years. ⁓
Emily: ⁓ my god, for sure. 1,000 % let's go through this cast, because honestly, shit fucking stacked. Like, obviously Christian Bale's huge now. Again, he was an absolute nobody. Justin Theroux plays one of his ⁓ best friends. Do you know who that is? you, that's the only reason I know who he is. ⁓ I'm so glad that we're on the same ⁓
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yes, that is Jennifer Aniston's ex. I mean, I have seen him in little things here and there, but as an actor, I don't know him as an actor. I know him as Jennifer Aniston's ex. As all men should be identified as because women haven't identified that way forever. Yes. Yes.
Emily: No. Yes, a thousand times yes. They're for eons, for time in memoriam. ⁓ Also starring Chloe Sevigny, who I swear to God, I thought she was our age. She was born in 1974. Sorry, Jean, who plays Jean.
Hannah: Gene, okay,
Emily: She was lovely. I loved her. I can't wait to talk about the movie itself and talk about that scene. Reese fucking Witherspoon. Absolutely forgot she was here. ⁓ It's truly the best breakup crying in a restaurant scene that she's ever done in her career.
Hannah: Yes. Right? Yes. I did not expect to see her. Yep. Did not expect to see her. She has done two. Yeah, more. But yeah, those are probably pretty close together actually. But the legally blonde one was of course better. ⁓
Emily: I'm sure she's done more, but I only care about two. Yes. Obviously. ⁓ And then Matt Ross plays Lewis Carruthers and I'm looking at this guy and I'm like, why do I know your face? Why do I know you? So familiar. And Taylor is like, ⁓ that's the guy from Rose Red. Like, you are so fucking right. Did you ever watch Rose Red? It was a TV miniseries adaptation of Rose Red, the novel by Stephen King.
Hannah: Yeah, why, he did look familiar. Mm-hmm.
Emily: And ⁓ we talked about Willem Dafoe, how much I love him, would do anything for him. ⁓ The last one I want to mention Jared Leto. Jared Leto playing Paul Allen, baby face Jared Leto.
Hannah: Yes. Yes. It was just it was perfect. It was
Emily: Could anyone else play a smarmy asshole better? So, that's the cast. ⁓ Stacked fucking cast, honestly. I'm impressed that they got who they ⁓
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Especially after being fired and lots of issues with the... yeah. Troubled production. Yep, that's the right word.
Emily: A troubled production. ⁓ Would you, and I almost said the number, but would you like to play the numbers game? Numbers game. It's a numbers game. Yeah. So dis budget. So originally she was told no more than 10. Then she was fired. Then she came back.
Hannah: Numbers game, it's the numbers game. Yes, please. Mm-hmm.
Emily: And then she was told no more than seven million dollars.
Hannah: Jesus, that is no money. That is no money. I know this is 1998 and it's different money than it is now, but still, $7 million to make a movie. They spent more than that on Star Wars and they didn't have any money.
Emily: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, do you want? ⁓ Would you like me to look up inflation calculator?
Hannah: ⁓ I can look it up
Emily: Okay,
Hannah: 13.7 million. That is no to make a movie. And that is why, I mean, she was smart to use a nobody for the lead actor you didn't to pay him.
Emily: and basically no money in terms of movies. Uh, literally, because the production gave him $50,000. Yes.
Hannah: What? Are you, that's it? That man became Patrick Bayman. He could sweat on demand.
Emily: $50,000 On demand! I mean, real quick, I just looked it up. Star Wars, quote unquote, episode four, A New Hope. Production cost, $11 million in 1977.
Hannah: Yeah, okay, so they had more money than she had Jesus Wow seven million dollars Wow That's that's an indie budget
Emily: Yes, considerably. ⁓ $7 million. So based on that, what do you think overall worldwide? And this is
Hannah: Ooh,
Emily: This is like big time movie studio. overall gross worldwide. Very good. And for a hot, we'll get to it in a second, but for a hot minute, was NC 17.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, but very controversial are rated our rated films never make as much money I yeah, sure. I mean they're there. They were probably there's a very fine line between R and NC and NC 17 for this movie But it would pull in All white boys would have to see it I'm gonna guess like $75 million?
Emily: you like to get a lower number.
Hannah: Okay, okay, I was going high. I'm go like $23 million.
Emily: Would you like to guess a higher number?
Hannah: Okay, so somewhere between 75 and 23. we're gonna go million.
Emily: Gross worldwide $34.3 million.
Hannah: I mean that's not a lot for a movie but considering the budget was seven million dollars they made their money. It's an R rated film like that's nothing to shake a stick at. Thirty four million dollars. Okay.
Emily: They made their money back. Exactly. Yeah. So how much of that do you think is US and Canada?
Hannah: 34. I'm gonna guess 24 million of that was US and Canada.
Emily: Would you like to guess a lower number?
Hannah: Okay, so it did okay outside the United States. Okay. ⁓
Emily: I think because this book, for being so controversial.
Hannah: Yeah, ⁓ it's all over. Like, I mean, the places that I talked about shrink wrap is Australia and New Zealand. I'm gonna say 12 was US and Canada.
Emily: Mm-hmm. I'm gonna give it to you. was 15.1, which is super respectable.
Hannah: Okay. Okay. Out of 34. Yeah, almost half. Almost half was still did well outside the US.
Emily: Okay, so in just the US and Canada, they made their money back. More than. So this is a... I don't think it was a hit, but it was a success. How much of that? 15 million was opening weekend.
Hannah: ⁓ yeah, more then. No. Yeah. I feel like this was a movie that was like word of mouth might've started slow. So maybe like three million the first weekend?
Emily: Would you like to guess a slightly higher number?
Hannah: 4.5.
Emily: 4.9.
Hannah: Alright, so five was and then but overall made 15. Okay. Yeah, it was a good weekend. mean, considering the whole budget was seven and then they made back five the first weekend. The people stopped, they probably stopped sweating.
Emily: A Roam-made fifth, so like, a huge big weekend. chaos, right? Yeah, so that's the numbers game. Other fun facts. So I mentioned briefly that this was an NC-17 movie for a hot second. To get down to an R rating, they removed 18 seconds of film.
Hannah: Yes. Mm-hmm 18 seconds was the problem. 18 seconds. Okay, what was in this 18 seconds? It was probably actually in my cut, because I watched the uncut version. ⁓ good, we saw the same one. Okay.
Emily: 18 seconds. I also watched the Unka version. Yes, you did. It was the threesome. It was the actual sexual act of the threesome.
Hannah: of three people. That was what made it NC17.
Emily: None of the murders were an issue. Not the fact that he dropped a chainsaw off of a multilevel stairway. Not the fact that he- ⁓
Hannah: Americans are such prudes. No, that three, and that was before any of the torture. Like those people were having fun. But no, the threesome.
Emily: Yes. Yes.
Hannah: Americans are prudes.
Emily: So Americans, if it gives a backwards fucking ⁓ priorities.
Hannah: It is, it really is.
Emily: that makes me think this is I have no idea when we're going to put this out. But as of today, ⁓ 25th, 2026, there is a bill on the House floor that I think it might be lumped into or somehow connected to the SAVE Act or something like that ⁓
Hannah: Yes. Ugh. ⁓ I think I have heard about this, that it's like they're trying to limit LGBTQ stuff in books and then it's gonna come around and hit our, our prefer genre of, yeah. It doesn't matter if it's straight or not straight. Yeah. Yeah.
Emily: Yeah. our preferred... Yes, exactly. Because any sex is bad sex. As proof in this fucking film, where people are gutted, decapitated, fucking blood everywhere, that's not the issue. It's the issue that three people were having consensual sex. Now, granted, it doesn't end consensually, but at the point that they're upset about, it's the sex, not the violence. And that is...
Hannah: Mm-hmm. FORTURED or sex. No, it does not. But in that moment, in that 18 seconds...
Emily: So quintessentially American, infuriating. So depending on when this comes out, call your senators. This is bullshit. You should probably, in today's 2026, you should probably be calling them on a regular basis.
Hannah: Yes. Yes, it is. It is. It is very infuriating. Yeah, you should call them probably for something anyway. Mm-hmm.
Emily: Anyway. So yes, it was NC17 ⁓ for a hot And there is an uncut and a ⁓ cut version with those 18 seconds removed. Teeheehee. What fun facts do I have? So, we love Willem Dafoe.
Hannah: It's a thing. Yes.
Emily: We know he is an incredible actor. If he doesn't have an Oscar, he should by now. He's incredible. She had him film the interview scenes Christian Bale interviewing about the of Paul Allen. She had him film it three times. There were three takes. The first take.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Okay.
Emily: For sure, character, Detective Kimball, knows or at least very strongly suspects that Patrick Bateman killed Paul Allen. The second take, he's on the fence. He's not sure. The third take, he doesn't suspect Patrick Bateman at all. So they had three takes and in the editing room, they cut together different
Hannah: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Uh-huh.
Emily: pieces of the scene from those three takes. And that's why you can't get a beat on what he's thinking. You can't figure out like, does he suspect me, does he not? Which was so great because I had the same thought reading the book where I'm like, I cannot tell if he's on his side or if, cause it kind of ended.
Hannah: What? No! No. Yeah. No. Mm-mm. Because you think it's like the way it's even like it's art of like they're not even sure if he's actually missing, let alone is Patrick Bateman involved. So that's why it wow. No. Yes, it is. Did they have a female editor?
Emily: Yeah, exactly. that's how they did it. That's why you can't get a beat because they're completely separate takes. That is the magic of editing. Honestly, incredible because it's seamless too. What an excellent question. I don't...
Hannah: Cause that's some rumor I've heard once is that all great movies have females.
Emily: I mean, women make up a staggering majority of editors in Hollywood.
Hannah: Well, it's probably the only people who can have the patience to sit there with the director yelling, it's with dictating what they want. Cause you know what? It's what we've done for forever. Like men in our ears telling us what to do.
Emily: Oh, this was edited by Andrew Marcus. There you go. I stand by it. Yep. But it's true, women are the vast majority of editors in Hollywood. So like the logic is sound.
Hannah: ⁓ was a man. All right, I take it back. It was a theory. I mean, that's why Star Wars A New Hope is a movie is because it was edited by a woman.
Emily: because it was edited into a cohesive storyline. Yes.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Thanks to a woman.
Emily: I was ⁓ fascinated by this ⁓ fucking saga. Well, like I go into more controversy. They struggled to find to film because of anti-violence activists protesting. ⁓ They really struggled with finding brands that would let
Hannah: sure.
Emily: them use their products because of the stigma. Right. So like there's a line in the book that says don't touch the Rolex. And then in the movie, Rolex reached out and like, you have to change that line. So it's don't touch the watch. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ I don't think I caught it when I read it. Like, there's no way I'm going to. There's. There's so many brands.
Hannah: ⁓ I hadn't thought of that because, ⁓ because of the controversy. Interesting. ⁓ Interesting. I didn't catch that when I was watching it. I think I did. I mean, there were so many brands, so many brands.
Emily: We- let's actually- let's get into it. Let's get into the movie. Let's get into comparison, because especially at this in the book, I was not even reading the brand descriptions anymore. Couldn't process any more of that information. Skipped right over it. Couldn't handle it.
Hannah: Okay, I'm Mm-hmm. Yes. No, no, I got I got the gist of it as like, okay, it's all the brands. He's gonna list everything. Yeah, yeah
Emily: Yeah, and I'm so glad that they did not lean into that ⁓ in the movie. Everyone looked good. Yep. They kept in one reference where in the business card scene, Patrick Bateman was talking about the person who Paul Allen has mistaken him for, ⁓ And he's like, yeah, we have the same. ⁓
Hannah: No, I mean, you could tell everyone's dressed to the nines, like they're impeccably dressed.
Emily: brand of suit, we have the same glasses, we even go to the same barber, but my haircut's better. and they kept, the first time that the detective comes to see him in the office, ⁓ in an effort to seem, ⁓ important the word I'm looking ⁓ To seem busy, he needs to him wait as a power play. He's talking with someone on the phone about the proper clothing, the proper use, ⁓ and that was...
Hannah: Yes. Yeah. ⁓ yes they did, yes. Of like a pocket square or something.
Emily: Exactly. And that is the perfect distillation of the sheer amount that he did. It's like, boop, put it down. So I want to start with things that are the same, that you enjoyed ⁓ that you wish they had changed. Don't say the violence because that ⁓ the point.
Hannah: Yes, of that whole shtick. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yes. Okay.
Emily: There are still very nice suits. I think actually there's a lot of beats from the book that they were able to keep. One I enjoyed... Yes, basically word for word.
Hannah: Yes. Yeah, mean, the whole conversations were like directly like, mm Some of the I definitely remember like some of the conversations at the very beginning, the very end. It's like, ⁓ this is word for word what was in the book. Mm hmm.
Emily: Yes, I enjoyed his group of friends. ⁓ enjoyed.
Hannah: I mean, they were as frat bro as I expected them to be.
Emily: Oh my God, it was breath, like it really fleshed out their, I mean, I don't know if character's the word, but like reading it.
Hannah: Yeah. Well, honestly, I didn't even realize in the book that he even hung out with the same couple guys. Like that didn't even I had a hard time even tracking that because he got so bogged down describing what they were wearing that I'm like, wait a minute, who are you with? But then again, it didn't really matter who he was with. ⁓ And that ⁓ so. Yes, the time.
Emily: Alright, that's funny. It didn't matter. And he used different names all the time.
Hannah: So it made it very difficult to track of like who he was with, who are his friends. I mean, he doesn't really have friends. but yeah, they were just as frat bro I expected them to be like boat shoe loving ⁓ frat bros. ⁓
Emily: Yeah, they were they were honestly, they're kind of delightful in a love to hate them kind of way. scene that they kept that I really enjoyed was the scene at the dry cleaner.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes, they did keep that in and like it made it really more obvious of like dude, this is not okay. You brought bloody sheets to a dry cleaning. You're ⁓ airing out your dirty laundry. You think they were just gonna be cool that this ⁓ white dude who's single has bloody and they're not gonna like freak out about it? Yeah, that was great. I did enjoy that.
Emily: What did you think was going to happen?
Hannah: And he did bring up a few times, I have to go return movie tapes. I have go, I video tapes to return. And it sounded as dorky and as dumb of an excuse as it needed to. It was awesome.
Emily: ⁓ my God. a book I don't know why but I read it as Ernest maybe because he talked about going to the video store so often we went with him to the video store he always was watching a videotape and in this one it really felt like an excuse like I don't know what else to say that was so funny Lewis Crother's character
Hannah: Yes, I did too! Mm-hmm. Yes. Yep. Yep.
Emily: I'm glad it was there, I love that actor. But I was like, why are you here? Is it to show that Patrick is not as straight as he thinks he is? That he's not as macho and alpha? I guess I still don't understand that character beat.
Hannah: I feel like there's some 90s lens that was happening I don't know. I, yeah, I never, I don't understand that either other than for him to go, no homo. ⁓ No, yeah. ⁓
Emily: Right, right? So I think they handled it better because they left out the scene where Lewis collapses to the floor and crying and screaming.
Hannah: Yeah, in the department store. Yeah, and did some really weird things at a department store. yeah, I'm not exactly sure what that was. Maybe that was it. was maybe trying to show that like he isn't as confident in his sexuality as he wants everyone to, as he's presenting.
Emily: Yeah. as he's presenting. But what about you? there anything that they kept? ⁓ Because know you did not like that book, but was there anything that they kept that you're like, ⁓ that ⁓ works in the movie than it did in the book?
Hannah: No, I did not. I think more I liked how they changed things for the medium that worked. let's just get into it now. How they brought in the music chapters was, I loved it. It was wonderful. Paul Allen. Yep.
Emily: Mm-hmm. Christine So the first time we get a movie chapter He's in about to kill Paul Allen and he puts on Huey Lewis in the news and He does this whole diatribe
Hannah: Wonderful. Yes, this whole stick about like, it's like he's presenting a commercial of like, why you should listen to Huey Lewis and the news. What? Yes, exactly. It. Yeah. Well, like a Rolling Stones article or something like a whole breakdown of and it was just the juxtaposition against him killing someone was it was just it made it funny. It made it fit. It made the whole idea of why these chapters exist.
Emily: Which is exactly what it read as in the book. It read as a review that would be in a magazine. Yep. Yep.
Hannah: kind of fit better too. So I really enjoyed that. And then the second one was...
Emily: Phil Collins. house. They were about to ⁓ start a
Hannah: gas. ⁓ Yes. And then the third time was Whitney Houston and that's when he killed Christie and the other prostitute.
Emily: ⁓ my final fun fact. She wasn't a prostitute the second time. That was his friend Elizabeth, who was played by Guinevere Turner, screenwriter.
Hannah: ⁓ yeah. That's awesome. I love.
Emily: Which is, she was honest to God my favorite actor in the film. She was incredible. I loved her so much. ⁓ my God. Incredible. ⁓
Hannah: She was, yeah, she was, she knew what she was doing. But yeah, the way they integrated the music chapters was just perfect. And even love that like in the middle of like him talking about Whitney Houston, the screenwriter's like, you own Whitney Houston? That was.
Emily: Truly, right? Well, and Whitney Houston did not let them use her music. So that was an orchestral version that was recorded. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. I'm just finding more more fun facts. Now I've got them in here.
Hannah: ⁓ I love that. mean, I had the fun fact that Phil Collins said it was hilarious, bit that his his music is in the movie. He thought it was really funny. ⁓
Emily: ⁓ hell yeah. Yep. So yeah, that is a phenomenal change. And again, like a base change. It's so funny. This movie is so funny. They lean so hard into the satire. It's a black comedy. It's a dark comedy.
Hannah: Yeah. One thing I enjoyed that maybe he did it in the book and it just didn't come across right but like there's a sex scene where he's like there's a mirror and he's like flexing during the sex scene during while he... No, okay I didn't think so either it was so funny I was like...
Emily: I'm almost positive that did not happen in the book. It's so funny. And it's so perfectly that guy.
Hannah: Yeah, He's trying to be cool. He's trying. He has to get prostitutes ⁓ as a troll. ⁓
Emily: Like this guy if he was around today Patrick Bateman was around today. He would be an avid follower of Andrew Tate And like everyone in that Manosphere, yeah. Yep
Hannah: ⁓ ⁓ yes. ⁓ absolutely. The Manosphere. Absolutely. ⁓ one thing that I, the, this did happen in the book a lot and it made a bigger impact, I think in the movie was the return of the Dorcia, like whole thing about getting reservations at Dorcia. Like that restaurant did continue to come up because I think even the ex-girlfriend Bethany, think like her boyfriend was the chef. So like it did keep coming up, but I think in the movie it just, the final time it came up, cause I think his,
Emily: It felt more tangible.
Hannah: His secretary wanted to go there and.
Emily: And in the book, they go, they take someone's table, and then they're asked to leave, which I think I'm kind of sad they didn't do that. But like I get why they did it. And honestly, the scene between them was great of her at his apartment.
Hannah: Yes! Mm-hmm. It may, even though I knew she was going to get out unscathed, I was nervous the whole time. She, it was just like, ⁓ girl, get out of this apartment. And because I love that, like, ⁓ yeah, his kitchen, his kitchen does not have kitchen things in it. It's full of murder equipment, duct tape and knives and chainsaws. And it's just like, I mean, I love that that's how they set up his kitchen. Like, yeah, no, he doesn't eat.
Emily: Same, same. And you can see that he's got all this shit hidden around his apartment.
Hannah: in his house he goes to have and have reservations of course his kitchen is his murder room um but yeah the return of the dorsia when when the secretary wanted to go there it was just his utter just it was wonderful
Emily: No, he goes out. Yeah, after Doris, he had called a couple scenes earlier to get a reservation and they laughed at his face. So good. Yeah, but like the scene where that scene where he's about to pull the trigger on a nail gun at her head, he's about to do it. And then Evelyn Reese Witherspoon calls and leaves a message. And he's such a weirdo.
Hannah: Mm-hmm Mm-hmm.
Emily: He sits down and they both listen to the message together. Her saying like, I hope you're not with some floozy, you know, you're mine, Mr. Man, I love you, I'll talk to you later, whatever the fuck it is. And Jean, Chloe78 is like, so are you together?
Hannah: Yes. ⁓ huh. It's like, she had just had a conversation of like, you with any, are you seeing anybody seriously? And he says, no, basically.
Emily: Basically, like he repeats what she says because he's just a mimic. He doesn't have any original thoughts. He's just a mimic. He reflects back What thinks you want to hear what you give to him. He will reflect it right back He just wants to fit in remember. It's what he says to Evelyn in the taxi, which I totally missed in the book
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes, like why do you have a job? Yeah, I did miss that too, but it definitely happened in the book where she's like, why you don't need a job? You have like, he comes from money.
Emily: Yeah, she... Your dad owns the company. Why do you need a job? Yeah,
Hannah: Mm-hmm. And he's like, fit in.
Emily: But so they listen to this ⁓ and then ⁓ like, hey, should I go? And he goes, I think along the lines of, I think that would be a good idea. I can't control myself. ⁓ And so you can hear exactly what she's hearing ⁓ and exactly what saying, which are two different things, which was so
Hannah: Mm-hmm. She's hearing, yes, yes, yes. He's saying, I'm gonna kill you. And she hears, I wanna have sex with you.
Emily: And I shouldn't because of Evelyn. And it's played so well. Man, it's like, honestly, it was probably my favorite scene, one of my favorite scenes like that in the Willem Dafoe scene
Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Emily: So that was great. I'm glad they left that scene in. I'm sad they didn't go to Dorcia, steal someone else's table, get asked to leave.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yeah, there was an I think though they did enough other like times where there was mistaken identities that that wasn't necessarily needed to set up how it ends. I am glad they got he went back to Paul Allen's apartment. I'm glad they kept that in. I did like that they added. I don't know if he I don't think he did in the book, but he put a face mask on. And even with the face mask on, you can tell that he's just like what? The actual wait a minute. This apartment is perfect. This apartment is fine. What there should be bodies. It should be smelly.
Emily: And so
Hannah: I mean, think it adds to the whole idea of did it happen or did it not? ⁓ I did find the realtor real spooky. She was spooky. ⁓ It one of those moments of like, if something actually did happen, she knows. She knows about it. But it could just be of like, there's this strange man and I want him to go away and nothing actually happened here. So it still leaves it open, I think, of like, did he do it, did he not?
Emily: Yeah. She was very unsettling. She was great. Mm-hmm. So I know we talked about it in the book. Do you think he did it? Based on the movie.
Hannah: In on the movie, I'm more convinced he did it. I'm more convinced he did it in the movie. In the book, I'm. Yeah. And it was it was easier just sweep it under the rug than actually do anything about it, because who cares about women?
Emily: and that he just got away with it. Because he's a rich white man. The fuck else is gonna happen?
Hannah: because in the book I felt very much I kind of I leaned more towards it's all in his head.
Emily: Which in the book we have the scene where he's having a mental breakdown on the street. And we did not get that in the movie.
Hannah: No, no, we didn't. He had the whole breakdown of still of like the the gun spree, the gun killing spree.
Emily: which honestly felt tame compared to what's in the book, right? Like in the book, it's dozens of people. And in the movie, it's like, yeah, right? It felt a lot more like a fever dream. It felt like it really led into, is this actually happening? Whereas in the movie, it was a little more tame. Like the ATM asked him to feed it a cat. So that's kind of weird. cop cars up.
Hannah: Yeah, ⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. And I think there's like knives involved too. It's not just a gun. Mm-hmm. a cat. That was Yeah. Yeah, those.
Emily: That's kind of weird, but that was also a perfect like, he's such a fan of movies, that's also a perfect like 1980s action film thing to happen.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. I mean that did add a level of fever dream. Is it real? But it's still I think... Yeah.
Emily: But I wish it was more. wish it was just like 15 % more surreal. Would have been, would have made me happier.
Hannah: Yes. Because then even more question of like, did he did he did he do it? Did he not? I did find the whole voicemail. don't know if pathetic is the right word, but like he falls apart and I just think it's interesting. I thought it was interesting that what makes him finally fall apart is the gun violence and not the fact that he dismembers women and eats them.
Emily: Do you think it's the gun violence or do you think that he thinks he's gonna get caught? Because that's what I was getting.
Hannah: It probably is more the fact that there's police cars coming and he's going to get caught and that's why he freaks out. But it's just it was interesting, like the kind of violence that's going to make him get caught versus what the horrific violence he does behind closed doors.
Emily: He, yeah. Very true, very true. No, I like that scene. I think he did really well. ⁓ being a desperate...
Hannah: Yeah, the desperation was oozing. was definitely using his sweating abilities. It was very much a...
Emily: His sweating abilities, yes. And so they filmed that for hours. I think they did like 20 takes or something like that because, well, and that's literally why, because she said as he was getting tired, as he was giving this kind of desperation, he was giving, you know, just more of a raw emotion. And so as they went on, just kept, she said it kept getting better and better and better. So.
Hannah: that sounds so exhausting. Sure. Mm-hmm. ⁓ yeah, because it would it would add to the yeah exhaustion would add to it
Emily: Yeah, yeah. that ⁓ I really give much thought to, but I ⁓ absolutely I think I just loved this actor's face. His lawyer at the very end. There was something about his face ⁓ that was ⁓ hypnotized ⁓
Hannah: Well, there was a point. I found a point of like, is this man real? Cause like he just stares off into space for a while. Like he just stops.
Emily: He, so number one, he reminds me so much of in the movie Alien, the android. Very, you know, very clear skin. Very quiet, doesn't move. ⁓ He me of an android. He ⁓ had behind his eyes. ⁓ His was pristine. His skin was beautiful. And he was just, he was so creepy and he just clearly wasn't seeing Patrick.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, he was a little creepy. No.
Emily: He wasn't reacting to the amount of energy, frantic energy that's coming off of Patrick. I was hypnotized by him. I loved him.
Hannah: Well, it was just, again, one of those moments of like, what's real? What is real here?
Emily: Yep. In the book, he ⁓ I spoke to this and had they had dinner with Paul Allen, whereas in the movie he's like, no, ⁓ I had dinner with Allen, assuming. Was it him? ⁓ OK, in my head, was it was someone else. But yeah. ⁓ So.
Hannah: No, I thought in the book he had had Paul, he had had, it was him. It was him. No, it was him. That's what made it so concrete was like, I had dinner with Paul. I saw him.
Emily: But we also know, because he's literally talking to Patrick Bateman, not recognizing him as Patrick Bateman. So it means nothing, right? Yeah.
Hannah: He doesn't think he's Patrick Bateman. Yeah. It means absolutely nothing. So again, in the movie, I think I get pushed more that it all happened.
Emily: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Hannah: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I survived it.
Emily: I enjoyed it so much more. mean, I didn't like it as much as when I was 20.
Hannah: another big change that I enjoyed. There are way, way, way, way, way fewer references to ⁓ Trump. ⁓ one. it's actually about his ⁓ now dead I don't even think it's about him. ⁓ Then there's Okay.
Emily: Yeah. ⁓ my god, there's one passing reference to Trump. Well, so there's then there's two. So Ivana has one and then he in the car, he's like, is that Donald Trump's car? But yeah, way less Trump references, way less Lee Miz references. There's just the poster.
Hannah: Sure, but then that's it. There was the poster, just the poster. was like, yay for the poster. ⁓
Emily: You're still there! Yeah, that was so funny, because that's such a big part of the book. ⁓
Hannah: ⁓ it was like anytime that it was like they just had it. He just like picked one musical. That was the only musical they were ever going to talk about. Of the year. Yeah. Mm I mean, it still should be.
Emily: Well, it was also like the biggest fucking musical on the planet. It's still, I mean, it's huge. People know it, but yeah,
Hannah: Yeah,
Emily: was there anything else about the movie that you wanted to touch on?
Hannah: think we should talk about the final big violence, women's violence scene. As we've talked about, like I took a break when Christie, the prostitute showed up again. was like, okay, I have to prepare myself for this. I've watched enough. I'm gonna wait and stop. Well, when I came back to it, they had completely changed what the violence was in that, which was fine. Which is amazing that it was really bad. There were no rats involved this time. It was instead just a chainsaw. And I just thought it was so funny of him running down the hallway, just totally nude, and nobody heard him.
Emily: Yeah, because that was intense. Yeah. Him running butt ass naked with sneakers.
Hannah: Nobody heard anything. Nobody came out. Nobody saw anything, which adds to the layer of, it real? But then like, it's wild to me that him throwing a chainsaw and killing a woman down a stairwell with a chainsaw. And I was just like, relieved. I think it's kind of funny. I'm like, oh, that was only that.
Emily: Yeah. Yes. ⁓ thank god it's only him throwing a chainsaw. Truly. ⁓ Honestly I was really glad that they did remove so much of the violence. Specifically Bethany. They reference Bethany but they didn't show us Bethany. I was so glad. There's really only like four violent scenes. Yeah.
Hannah: Cause as we talk, yes. And I think that's enough. I think it does what they want to do with what they're trying to accomplish with the level of violence. As we talked about, I think the violence in the book is too dense.
Emily: Yeah. Yeah, I would. So remember when we were talking about the book and I said that I really enjoyed the first third and the second third, I get it, but it's a bit repetitive. And the third third, I'm like, this is too much. It's all the same. It's all so incredibly graphic. I think that this movie is really just the same energy, maybe as that first third. It's funny. It is dark. It is violent, but it's not.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes, I agree.
Emily: what it becomes.
Hannah: Yes, I agree. I agree that the level that they kept it at was more palatable. I mean, what they needed to do in order to be able to make it a movie. I can say I enjoyed the more than the book. I can say that without hesitation.
Emily: Yes. And that is literally my letterbox review. Yes. I enjoy the movie more than the book. it's... Yeah. Yeah.
Hannah: Yeah. ⁓ Which doesn't happen very often for me. That will be a rare take.
Emily: about to say, has that, I think we both agree that we enjoy Pride and Prejudice more movie over book, though we both enjoyed that book more than I think we expected. I guess we didn't really talk about that for Hunger Games. We definitely enjoyed Bernadette Book more. Jurassic Park?
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yes, that is true. Yes. I might have, I think I enjoyed the movie more for Jurassic Park. I really enjoyed the book, but I think I liked the movie more for Jurassic Park.
Emily: I think the changes that they made in Jurassic Park were good, but like what about for Hunger Games? I think I enjoyed the movie more. also remember I don't have the history with that book.
Hannah: No, you don't. You didn't read it in high school like I did.
Emily: Yeah.
Hannah: I think both hold up really well. I think if you're gonna go into it as an adult and not have read the book as a teenager, I can see why you'd like the movie more. Because the movie is more fleshed out, it's more well-rounded, it has more perspective in it. And it's not through the eyes of a teenage girl.
Emily: Yeah, but this one, I think we can both agree the movie is better than the book.
Hannah: when she's... ⁓ yes. Yes. ⁓ And I never need to ⁓ talk or read them ever or watch them or... True. ⁓ True. can.
Emily: by near, by far. ⁓ I mean, we can talk, you can talk about it now. Anytime at a party, it's a fun party fact, because who the fuck has read American Psycho? No one reads American Psycho. Your husband reads a lot of things. He doesn't count. He's the exception, he's not the rule.
Hannah: My husband had. He reads a lot of things. No. And actually I'm really glad he had so that when I was freaking out, could be like, I have to tell you about this bit. And like we had to talk about this and he was like my sounding board and he knew exactly what I was talking about. So it was, was, I was very grateful that he had read
Emily: Mm-hmm. instead of when I was reading it and a house full of people who had no idea what I was talking about. just babbling like a psychopath. No, I was we were at Breckenridge. We were with a snowboarding. No, no, not family, not family. No friends. Yep. Just a group of friends. We all rented a house and went snowboarding and skiing for a week. But I'm reading this fucking book and I'm talking. I'm looking at I turned to my friend who's sitting like fucking around on the phone and I'm like, John.
Hannah: lol Wait, weren't you on your reading retreat? Oh, you were family. Ooh. No, not family? Okay, friends. Okay. Okay. Fun.
Emily: I need to unload about what the fuck just happened. I feel like a crazy person and he's like, what is happening? So we are mixed on this movie. And I it's safe to say that the Internet ⁓ similarly.
Hannah: No! Yes.
Emily: Mixed so IMDb rates this film as 7.6 out of 10 Which is higher than I thought honestly, I think mixed. It's that's a thing
Hannah: Okay, yeah, but people, it's a cult classic, so it's probably, it's gonna pull in those positive reviews.
Emily: In 2000, it was more negative than positive and now after time and things like that, now it's more slightly more positive than it was negative. Yeah, so IMDB 7.6 Metacritic. The critic score for Metacritic is 64. The user score is 7.9 out of 10. So again, on Metacritic and I think a lot of these that split critic versus user, the critics are only going to watch it
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay.
Emily: once when it comes out. people are gonna keep watching, keep reading, so that's gonna change. Rotten Tomatoes, critic score of 69. ⁓ user score of 85. And summary, I love the ⁓ Rotten Tomatoes summary, but the summary is, if it falls short of the deadly satire of Bret Easton Ellis's novel, American Psycho still finds its own blend of horror and humor.
Hannah: and they watched it when it was released. and keep, yep. Yep.
Emily: Thanks in part to a fittingly creepy performance by Christian Bale, which we didn't even talk about. His performance was incredible.
Hannah: No. It was, it really was. He had a really, I mean, he was able to be both dorky and scary ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ did everything ⁓ watching that man exercise was lovely.
Emily: It was great. ⁓ And he did not look like that when he accepted the role. Like he was a little bean pole. He's method actor.
Hannah: It was lovely and shower scenes. ⁓ yeah, you too? ⁓ was he a method actor?
Emily: I'm not a huge fan of Method. But, unfortunately it gives results ⁓ it's not every time not every time but like it worked he was so good like no one else i don't think could have played this role can you fucking imagine if leonardo de caprio did this role this would have been ⁓ laughing stock ⁓ laughing stock
Hannah: Yeah, yeah. No. It worked here. He was convincing. hmm. No! Jack! Well, it's exactly true. He would have lost his fan base. He would have alienated his fan base because his fan base was watching him on, was was he on Growing Pains, I think? Yeah. Mm-hmm. So he would have lost his Growing Pains fans. Instead, he did Titanic, and that was a good choice. Oh, this is after Titanic. Okay. Okay. Sure.
Emily: Absolutely. Yes! I watched him on growing paints! Well this is after Titanic, so he's riding high. Titanic's 97, 98. He's riding high and that's why the studio wanted him. Right? Like the only one I feel like, actually, honestly, Leo's the only kind of oddball out. Johnny Depp. He could have done it. Probably. He was probably too young, too pretty. Ewan McGregor. Because this is right around train spotting time and train spotting. Ewan McGregor is fucked. So like and I know we all know that he's a great actor, so he he probably could have done it. I don't think it would have been as good.
Hannah: Probably it I don't think it yeah, he was ⁓ Okay. No, I think...
Emily: Because I don't know that Ewan McGregor really even has- it's weird to say, but I don't think Ewan McGregor has the bone structure to be one of these fucking guys.
Hannah: Now, he doesn't look like a Yale Boston.
Emily: He's one of that whole Yale thing. What do you mean Yale thing? Well, you know, a closeted homosexual. What? What? ⁓ my God, Hannah, we didn't even talk about the business card scene. Sorry, we have to go back.
Hannah: Yeah, the Yale thing! The Yale thing! Yeah, it's fine. It's fine.
Emily: This fucking scene is honestly so-
Hannah: It was so much better in the movie. I still enjoyed it in the book, because it was just absolutely bonkers of how upset he got.
Emily: But in the book, it's just one little thing in a series of little things. This is a set piece. They stop the film to talk about this.
Hannah: Mm-hmm Well, I'm like I swear like if I remember correctly because I this I watched the first part of this movie Over a week ago like the first two or three look almost identical like there's very little different about them The last one has different colors. There's a little bit different coloring on the last one But yeah, I think actually it's two-tone. It's think it's got two different type colors I think some of its dark green some of its dark red, but the first three there is literally like
Emily: They all look identical.
Hannah: There's nothing discernibly different and he just absolutely loses his mind and his somehow his business card is now irrelevant. ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ yeah. And I, but I got it more with the visual.
Emily: Well, that's obviously that's the whole joke is they're not. It's a lot easier when you can visualize it, but I did not notice until I'm reading for ⁓ for this episode. Acquisitions is spelled wrong on all of the cards.
Hannah: Yeah.
Emily: So they're on all the wrong things is really what they're going for. ⁓ I know, isn't that great? But like I can tell I have been in the corporate world for too long because I'm looking at all of these cards and I'm like, if I was given every single one of these cards, I would not know who it goes to, which again, I know is the point, but like I wouldn't.
Hannah: Yeah, it's spelled wrong. That's amazing. That is amazing. ⁓ huh. Yeah, because they're all the same person.
Emily: They're all the same person so it kinda doesn't fucking matter. But I would not be able to tell these cards apart at a glance. I wouldn't know who I'm trying to talk to. Which is why now, if you have a business card, it's got your fucking photo on it. It's got a QR code where you can link all your socials. yeah. Trust me, it does.
Hannah: No, yeah, there's nothing. I have had an official VA business card at one point and yeah did. I have no idea. I think I had the option to get them and I was like hell yeah I'm gonna spend some government money to get a business card. Yeah.
Emily: Did you? Why? Where were you going to give people a business card? ⁓ fuck yeah. I had ⁓ business cards from the children's theater for some reason. I should have kept them. So final thoughts, ⁓ Back to final thoughts. On a scale of one chainsaw being bad and five chainsaws being good, how would you rate this movie as an adaptation of the book? Yeah.
Hannah: Yes, back to Final Thoughts. Okay. ⁓ of the book. I would give it like four and a half chainsaws. I thought it did a great job of making this book a movie. Yes, a lot had to be changed, but I mean that just the nature of what the book is. And I think it accomplished what the book wanted to do and more. So I give it like four and a half, if not almost five chainsaws. I, yep.
Emily: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I would. Absolutely agree. Yeah, the changes were dramatic but just like with Jurassic Park the changes ⁓ the story ⁓
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, they added, they I agree.
Emily: Yes. Yep. Even though the story is still kind of like, did he or did he not murder 40 or 50 people? While being, we'll never know. ⁓
Hannah: We'll never know. I mean, heck, think the author has said he doesn't know.
Emily: Yes. And he actually said that was one issue that he had with the movie was that in the book, he said, the, you know, it can go back and forth any chapter. It switches. You're not sure at any given time, whereas in the movie, it feels very clear. He did do it. It's very literal up until the very end. And he's like that whiplash he feels didn't ⁓ work as well. But, I know. I didn't mind it.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I did enjoy that they tried to make it give the moving in ending with a voiceover. I'm like, no, it's just supposed to end.
Emily: Well, it had a denouement, right? Like in the book, just hard credits.
Hannah: It's over. Yep. And but the book try I don't even I couldn't even really understand what what the voiceover was do was even saying I'm just like, what is this voiceover? What are they trying? They trying to give this movie an ending?
Emily: Well, I think it was the voiceover was him like kind of reckoning with, am I crazy? I know I'm a hollow shell of a human being. And is that hollow shell of a human being a murderer, like I thought? Or is that hollow shell of a human being just a hollow shell of a human being? Yeah. What I didn't look into and I'm kind of interested, but I don't know if I'm interested enough. I want to know why they chose
Hannah: Yeah, yeah, I think that.
Emily: to end with a Reagan video.
Hannah: That was in the book. It was Reagan. It was Reagan. The only reason I remember that is because I read the synopsis on Wikipedia. It's like, ⁓ I guess it was Reagan. It was Reagan.
Emily: Was it? ⁓ I don't remember that at all. Okay, so I need to read it. Okay, yeah, I want to know why I want to know what the thought process was behind that. So four and a half for the adaptation. How many chainsaws would you give this movie just on its own merits? Not compared to the book at all.
Hannah: Again, I don't like this genre of, I don't like horror, so I give it one chainsaw. I I put myself through this because I didn't want to wimp out, but if another horror movie book comes up, I might wimp out and pass. Use a veto.
Emily: You I'm proud of you. You stuck through. That's fine. We will have to, just like I started doing with Neil, we will have to start looking at the genre tags before we jump in. Cause the same thing happened episode one, Event Horizon.
Hannah: Yeah. Yeah, that episode is so good because Neil is so upset.
Emily: It's not. Don't say that. He's so upset. So immediately after that, we started looking at genre tags. So I would give this four. I gave this four chainsaws as a movie on its own merits. ⁓ liked this movie. I liked the satire. ⁓ don't mind the violence. ⁓ don't think it is gratuitous like I felt at the very end of the book.
Hannah: As a movie. you also Yeah, you did. I understand that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Emily: I don't know. I will forgive a lot if you make me laugh and, like kind of have something to say in the specific satire that this movie did ⁓ the excess of the ⁓ ⁓ this specific slice ⁓ ⁓ American, ⁓ guy, ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ clothes, the food, especially the, like we talked about in the book.
Hannah: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Emily: the restaurant culture in New York City in the 80s was crazy. Like it's still crazy.
Hannah: And I mean, they did keep the bizarre food combos. I did notice that. Like there were some really weird combos in the book and they did keep that. Of like, that doesn't sound appetizing. Why is anyone eating that? No.
Emily: Yeah. None of that sounds good. Yeah. And they're all itty bitty portions. I did enjoy the opening credits where it, ⁓ so it's white and then it drips. It like there's drips and you think it's blood ⁓ and the was great. We didn't even talk about the music, but the music was so good. Like throughout the whole thing, but especially in the opening credits, each drip had ⁓ strings go.
Hannah: Oh, and then the food. Mm-hmm. Blood, and then it turns like sauce. Mm-hmm.
Emily: and then the music kicks in and instead of a drip it's a drizzle and you're like is this paint? Is this blood? And it's sauce on a plate, a decorative sauce and you see a big kitchen knife come down like someone's being killed but they're not being killed it's cutting meat. It was really great. I loved it so much. But yeah, so I enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed it.
Hannah: Sauce. Perfect. Slice in the meat. Yeah, yeah.
Emily: for what it was, I ⁓ always love when a movie takes the piss out of a rich white man. So like, ⁓ I was it. So... Do you have any ⁓ thoughts ⁓ around this film, this Anything? I we've said everything. Everything that can be said.
Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. I didn't. think it's been said. I think it's been said, yeah.
Emily: has been said about no one else will ever need to review either the book or the movie again because we've done it. We've covered ever. Yeah. No, we've just said everything that could possibly be said about it. There's nothing more to be said. So yeah.
Hannah: Yes. We did it. We did it. We did the best ever. Yeah, no one can do better than us. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Absolutely. No, nothing. We are that is complete and utter sarcasm. No one take this seriously.
Emily: That's a wrap on the cinematic side of things for this episode of Adaptation Addicts. I hope that you enjoyed our director's commentary on the adaptation and we will be back at some point. I don't want to say next week because I couldn't tell you when. We'll be back to slate the next book on our list and give it the full-framed treatment. Please do us a solid rate, review, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Hannah: Whoop whoop. Nope, no idea.
Emily: If you know of a better book to movie adaptation that we should cover, please ⁓ email us at...
Hannah: adaptationaddictspod@gmail.com ⁓
Emily: So until next time, keep your popcorn and your highlighter ready. Bye.
Hannah: Bye friends!