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Christian Bale is known for his incredulous body transformations for various roles. Over the years, he has gained or lost weight to extreme levels in order to portray different characters in films like The Dark Knight, The Machinist and Vice.
He did not quite go to such severe lengths with his body when he played a ruthless serial killer in Mary Harron's indie horror film American Psycho in 2000. However, he still did a lot of work to embody the character, including seeking inspiration from Tom Cruise.
Bale's performance - which included some improvised elements - helped to elevate the film to very impressive levels. At the box office, for instance, American Psycho managed to gross a total of $34.3 million, against a production budget of only $7 million.
Lions Gate Films were in charge of distribution of the movie. Following the success of that first film, they got fully on board and produced a follow-up, titled American Psycho 2, starring Mila Kunis and featuring William Shatner.
In 2013, Lions Gate announced that they were partnering up with FX to create an American Psycho TV series, which would also be a sequel to the original movie. Nearly ten years later, the noise around that appears to have completely died down, leaving fans wondering whether they can still expect to eventually see the project on their screens.
Are Plans For 'American Psycho', The Series Still Going On At FX?
When Deadline first revealed that there were plans being made for an American Psycho TV series for FX in 2013, they announced that it was set to be produced by Allison Shearmur (American Pie, The Hunger Games, Jason Bourne).
The writers' team was to be led by Stefan Jaworski (Those Who Kill). The premise of the series would still follow Patrick Bateman, the character played by Christian Bale in the big screen iteration.
According to those early reports, 'Bateman is now in his mid-50s but still just as outrageous and lethal as ever. He takes on a protégé in a sadistic social experiment, a protégé who will eventually become his equal — the next generation American Psycho.'
In 2015, after barely any significant movement, it was reported that the project was still alive, but had no timeline for production or a release. There hasn't been any communication about any progress since, though.
While this means that there is still some hope that Patrick Bateman will make his way to the small screen, the project is now in the stage often referred to in the industry as development hell.
Would Christian Bale Reprise His Role As Patrick Bateman In A Potential TV Series?
Christian Bale was 26 years old when American Psycho was released in cinemas around the world. He has since gone on to establish himself as one of the very biggest stars in Hollywood, winning one Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for his work in the films The Fighter and Vice.
With two decades gone since the cult of American Psycho, Bale is now less than two years shy of his 50th birthday. Combined with his incredible ability to transform for roles anyway, it could be argued that the next few years would be the perfect time to rope him in for an encore as a Patrick Bateman in his mid-50s.
Whether the actor would be up for the challenge is another question altogether. He had, after all been strongly advised by different people not to take the original role, insisting that it would have been career suicide.
Things did not pan out that way, however. At the same time, Bale has insisted in recent years that he is keen to slow down, and steer away from roles that force him to go through crazy transformations.
What Does The Original Writer Of 'American Psycho' Think About Plans For A Sequel?
American Psycho was adopted for the big screen from the similarly-titled novel by Bret Easton Ellis of 1991. Producer Edward R. Pressman bought the rights to the book, and brought the novelist on board to write a script for a film production.
Ellis ended up deviating significantly from the book, and Pressman sought for alternative screenwriters. In the end, director Mary Harron co-wrote the screenplay alongside Guinevere Turner.
Following the release of American Psycho 2, Ellis voiced his displeasure, and felt that his original story was being watered down and 'franchised.'
"I've sold the rights, but I really don't know how they ended up with all of these rights," he said in a 2012 interview. "If they're not careful they could end up with something like The Pink Panther movies."
While this is not express opposition to a potential series, it does suggest that Ellis would not be amenable to seeing Patrick Bateman in a television show.
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