Just a few days ago, Challengers director Luca Guadagnino revealed his plans for a new adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ seminal 1991 novel American Psycho. The success of the original film will be difficult to match — largely due to Christian Bale’s legendary performance as the progressively unhinged Patrick Bateman — but Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story star Cooper Koch believes he’s the man for the job, stating in a recent interview that he’d like to take on the role of Bateman as his next project.
It’s no wonder that Guadagnino’s plans for an American Psycho remake have already begun to make waves in Hollywood, given that the original film has become a major pop culture touchstone since its release in 2000. Although fans may have some difficulty imagining anyone other than Bale as American Psycho‘s iconic axe-swinging investment banker, Koch seems confident in his ability to handle the challenge. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about future projects following the success of Koch’s leading role in the Netflix miniseries Monsters, Koch stated simply, “Luca’s doing American Psycho, so I think I can do Patrick Bateman.” He added that, despite a repertoire of horror films, including They/Them and Swallowed, he hasn’t had the opportunity to play a serial killer yet, but thinks he would be a good fit for the role.
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Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has garnered criticism from viewers and its real-life counterparts for inaccuracies.
With Koch’s most recent release being Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, he’s well on his way to becoming a Hollywood hot topic — and a spot in Guadagnino’s American Psycho would only solidify that status. Premiering just over a month ago, Monsters has received mixed reviews due to over-dramatized accounts of real-life events, but Koch’s performance was universally praised, and viewer numbers have remained high despite the controversy. Koch himself also stated that, since the debut of Netflix’s true crime anthology, he’s been flooded with offers for new projects:
“Things are coming in, things are moving, things are happening, taking meetings, and the needle is threading, so we’ll see, nothing is locked in or happening yet.”
What to Expect from Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho
An incredibly accomplished filmmaker, Guadagnino has tackled a wide variety of films, including book-to-movie adaptations, remakes, and original stories. Because his work spans so many genres, it’s difficult to predict what audiences can expect from his American Psycho, but Guadagnino’s other remakes may hold a clue. His 2018 remake of Dario Argento’s cult classic Suspiria earned mixed reviews from viewers, but the biggest criticism was that the film differed drastically from the original. Many audiences also disliked the socio-political commentary of Guadagnino’s Suspiria, arguing that it made the movie too complex and distracted from the horror.
However, these traits may actually be preferable in a remake of American Psycho. Bret Easton Ellis’ novel was famously a criticism of American consumption and capitalism, but the 2000 film adaptation is often misinterpreted, with some viewers even admiring Bateman’s materialistic and ultra-successful lifestyle. The first American Psycho is also over two decades removed from our current economic environment, meaning that it no longer holds quite the same resonance for audiences today. For Guadagnino, resolving these issues might manifest as an emphasis on current societal issues rather than the same corporate greed that drives the original film. And instead of trying to copy the success of the first American Psycho, Guadagnino seems more than comfortable adding his own flair to ensure that the remake will stand out in a completely different way.