Dune 2 star Austin Butler has been cast as Patrick Bateman in the American Psycho remake being developed by Lionsgate and Frenesy Films. There had been rumors that Butler, Monster‘s Cooper Koch, and Saltburn‘s Jacob Elordi were all up for (or hoping for) the role, and it looks like Butler ended up landing it. It’s the first major casting news for this new American Psycho; the remake is being directed by Challengers helmer Luca Guadagnino, from a script by Scott Z. Burns (Side Effects, The Bourne Ultimatum), with Sam Pressman – son of the original film’s producer, Edward Pressman – attached as executive producer.
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Austin Butler has been on a meteoric run in the last few years. The former Nickelodeon kid actor kept grinding through some middling fame in his 2010s young adult years; his big breakout came in 2022 with his Oscar-nominated role in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, which Butler has followed up with acclaimed performances in films like The Bikriders and TV series like Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air. However, fans know Butler best from his unrecognizable role as Feyd-Rautha in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, where he stole scenes as the psychotic warrior-aristocrat who was heir to House Harkonnen, and a violent rival to Timothรฉe Chalamet’s Paul Atreides.
It’s fair to speculate that Butler’s performance as Feyd-Rautha exhibited the kind of darkness and edge that producers may have been looking for in this new Patrick Bateman. For the TikTok sector, there are no doubt some side-by-side photo posts in the works, holding Austin Butler up against original Patrick Bateman actor Christian Bale. It was Bale’s performance as Bateman in American Psycho (2000) that inevitably helped him land roles like Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005), which also played on the idea of darker personas lurking beneath a polished exterior. And who’s to say Austin Butler won’t repeat that history: if this American Psycho remake is a hit, James Gunn’s new DC Universe franchise still needs a new Batman…
Both versions of the American Psycho movies are adapted from author Brent Easton Ellis’s 1991 satirical horror novel. The book takes readers inside the mind of wealthy Manhattan investment banker – and total narcissistic sociopath serial killer – Patrick Bateman. Bateman is living his best life during the Wall Street boom of the late 1980s, with the right wealthy girlfriend (and mistresses, and escorts…), a top-paying job, and direct access to all the city’s most elite social spaces and people. And yet, Patrick Bateman feels he is slowly melting away into a nothing-person in all the consumerist luxury, and plays out dark primal urges (both sexual and sadistic) on unsuspecting victims.
The original 2000 film adaptation by writer/director Mary Harron was something of a departure from the source novel; no word on how Burns is approaching his “new adaptation of Ellis’ novel.” Luca Guadagnino has surprised both viewers and critics with his remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria and the sports-romance-thriller Challengers starring Zendaya. The latter movie was especially slick and uniquely stylish with its non-linear jumps in time, quick-cut sports-action (with some one-of-a-kind camera shots), and a heart-thumping soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. After Challengers, it’s just as thrilling to consider Guadagnino updating American Psycho for modern times as it is to get his take on satirizing the 1980s from a 2020s point of view.
The American Psycho Remake is in development.
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