When Hollywood stars turn down big film roles, it invites a fascinating what-if. Will Smith, for example, rejected Superman for extremely annoying reasons. And his colleague Leonardo DiCaprio is also known to have spurned many offers that then gave others the big breakthrough. Like the lead role in American Psycho. The reason supposedly has to do with 13-year-old girls and reads like a crime novel.
Christian Bale vs. Leonardo DiCaprio: Who plays the cult serial killer?
As fans know, the plot of American Psycho isn’t exactly a cute bedtime story: Rich investment banker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) follows his megalomaniacal and nihilistic tendencies murders colleagues, homeless people and women in the most cruel way, who he takes to his apartment for sex.
So it’s perhaps no wonder that for a long time no studio wanted to finance the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel. After shocker guru David Cronenberg (via Vice) dropped out, a promising director was found in Mary Harron (Charlie Says). And she already had the ideal main cast in mind: Christian Bale.
20th Century Pictures
Could Leo have played a bloodthirsty psychopath shortly after Titanic?
When a studio was finally found with Lionsgate, it didn’t want to hear about Harron’s dreams. Lionsgate thought Bale was too unknown and prefer to throw yourself at Leonardo DiCaprio, Back then, thanks to Titanic, she was the biggest rising star in Hollywood.
Leonardo DiCaprio ultimately rejects American Psycho because of teen fans
He was well aware of it and demanded a hefty price, reportedly at $21 million for his talent. However, he was interested, unlike director Harron, who thought he was too boyish for the role of the bloodthirsty killer. The studio didn’t care: they put Harron and Bale, who was enthusiastic about the film, on the road and, at DiCaprio’s request, brought in Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers) to direct.
The young shooting star was apparently able to dictate any condition to the producers. Why don’t we see one today? youthfully mischievous Leo as a psychopathic cult killer? The official version is: He and Stone couldn’t agree on the direction of the film. DiCaprio was signed to The Beach instead and Stone also dropped out shortly afterwards.
The director’s favorite candidate from the start: Christian Bale
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However, co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner has a different version: As far as she knows, he was by the influential political activist Gloria Steinem persuaded not to make the film. The reason was that she found the film’s content too frightening for DiCaprio’s target audience (via Vice).
A friend told me that Gloria Steinem took him to a baseball game and said to him: Please don’t make this movie. You just came from Titanic, there an entire planet full of 13 year old girls, who want to see what you do next. And this will be a film with terrible violence against women. Leonardo DiCaprio is getting out – and it’s better for all fans
What exactly led to Leo’s exit from American Psycho is unknown. What is clear, however, is that Christian Bale’s dedication to the role also ensured that fans can enjoy American Psycho in its current version: He turned down all other roles for 9 months. When the studio offered Ewan McGregor the part in American Psycho, they even persuaded him to turn it down.
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Instead of American Psycho, DiCaprio made The Beach
Bale’s enthusiasm for the role certainly contributed to hers iconic place in film history contributed. Just like many of DiCaprio’s roles, which fortunately he didn’t turn down.