American Psycho Stars Comment on Method Acting in Psychological Thrills for Christian Bale Twenty Four Years Later
Stars of American Psycho, Josh Lucas and Chlȏ Sevigny, talk about Christian Bale's portrayal in their film. Bale portrays Patrick Bateman, an investment banker driven down a psychotic road by highly violent visions. Released in 2000, American Psycho was under direction by Mary Haron. Along with Bale, Sevigny, and Lucas, the movie included Justin Theroux, Bill Sage, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, and Matt Ross.
Lucas and Sevigny spoke in Vanity Fair about Bale's performance in American Psycho. Lucas said, "he seemed so false," remembering being turned off by his first session with Bale. Later Lucas came to see he was "capable of having these crazy layers going on in what he was doing." Sevigny said it was difficult at first respect Bale's rigorous approach since she is "very gregarious and silly and goofy," and Lucas clarified the distinction between excellent and bad method actors. See the Sevigny and Lucas complete quotes below:
Christian Bale's American Psycho Acting Technique Clarified
Bale performed in the movie using a Method Acting technique, which both former American Psycho performers reference in their statements. Sevigny does a fantastic job of outlining how method acting shows up in relaying her earlier ideas about Bale of "Why aren't you being social?" Whether or not the camera is rolling, method actors usually spend their time on set totally engrossing themselves in their characters. Should the character have an accent, the actor will talk in that accent; should the character be reserved, the actor will behave accordingly.
That meant for American Psycho that Bale had to present himself with an unsettling intensity at all times. Lucas said Bale was "not paying attention to fucking anything else but what he's doing." Sevigny's study of Bale was also perceptive since she thought his performance strategies odd given Bale's background as a kid actor instead of an acting school-bred ability.
" Very Intimidating"
Lucas: I had no idea it was a subversive comedy. I had no idea Mary would be turning things upside down. I'm not sure if you felt this way, but I really remember thinking Christian Bale was awful. [laughs] I watched him and he seemed so dishonest in the first scene I did with him; today, I see that this was simply a really wise choice he was making. That actor was already at such a very different level, and he was able to have these insane layers running on what he was doing. Though at the time I considered it to be fake, it was precisely the contrary.
Sevigny: Since I'm quite extroverted and silly and foolish, unbeknownst to the wider public, I found it difficult to appreciate his method. Though I take my work extremely seriously and love acting and everything, I sort of shut down when people take themselves so seriously. His approach really scared me, and I needed a little more kindness to make myself feel more at ease—which is my own ego. Though I don't believe I thought he was poor, it was a really difficult situation for me. [laughs] I was simply sort of perplexed, wondering, Why aren't you social? Not even particularly conscious of what the Method thing was. I suppose I was simply kind of "fake it until you make it; I never had any official training." Still, the whole Method approach seemed like, What exactly is this technique? It really scared me.
Jared Leto and Method Acting
Leto's supporting actor status in the American Psycho set is another important consideration as the Suicide Squad star was later known for using his own kind of Method Acting. From castmate accounts, Leto sadly fits more into the realm of "really, really terrible to work with," Method actors who disrupt others with their conduct rather than stay to themselves. Given how early on in Leto's career American Psycho fell, the actor most certainly drew inspiration from Bale but might not have absorbed all the appropriate lessons.
Source: VF
From Method Acting
Lucas would say As you know, there's a really strange bridge separating awful Method actors—who I find to be absolutely horrible to deal with—from those like Christian, [who's] not paying attention to fucking anything else but what he's doing. I have only respect for that since many Method actors are really rather distracting since their technique takes precedence over anything or anybody else.
Sevigny: Given he was a kid actor, it's rather unexpected that Christian would be emotionally engaged the way he is. It's not as though he studied in college and thereafter developed this Method-y, Brando-y style. I'm interested about his path from child actor to then adult actor since it seems to be a somewhat fascinating one.
