American Psycho author casts doubt on rumoured Luca Guadagnino remake: ‘Just fake news’
The rumoured American Psycho remake may not be happening. (Lionsgate)
Put away your business cards everyone, it looks like that American Psycho remake isn’t happening after all, according to the original book’s author, Bret Easton Ellis.
The 60-year-old author has thrown doubt on the remake after sharing that Austin Butler, who was rumoured to be involved, and its rumoured director, Luca Guadagnino, are not contracted for the project.
“I have a feeling it’s fake news,” Ellis said while speaking on his podcast in late December. “I heard somewhere, from someone, that there are no contracts. Austin Butler hasn’t signed anything to play Patrick Bateman. Luca doesn’t have a deal. Scott Burns, who is supposed to write the screenplay, doesn’t have a deal.
“From various sources that I have, this is just fake news that was put out there to see how an audience is going to react.”
Ellis added that, if the reboot does somehow exist, he is not involved in the project and “(has) nothing to do with this.”
“I might get some money if they do this, but I am not involved creatively on any level, and that is all I know.ā
The satirical thriller novel was initially brought to the big screen in 2000. American Psycho follows psychopathic serial killer and investment banker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) as he succumbs to an uncontrollable bloodlust.
The film, which earned over triple its initial budget, also satirises Wall Street culture and American consumerism, which has spawned a cult following behind the film and particularly towards Patrick Bateman.
Ellis, who is also notable for writing Less than Zero and The Rules of Attraction, also mentioned his work on the semi-autobiographical HBO series The Shards, based on the book of the same name.
The series, as well as the book, depicts a fictionalised memoir of Ellis’s final year of high school in the early 1980s, as well as the tragedy of his close friend Robert Mallory.
Ellis is also set to make his directorial debut with the film Relapse, which focuses on a man who plunges into an existential crisis after witnessing a death at a drug party.
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