American Psycho Page #15

Synopsis: In New York City in 1987, a handsome, young urban professional, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), lives a second life as a gruesome serial killer by night. The cast is filled by the detective (Willem Dafoe), the fiance (Reese Witherspoon), the mistress (Samantha Mathis), the coworker (Jared Leto), and the secretary (Chloë Sevigny). This is a biting, wry comedy examining the elements that make a man a monster.
Original Story by: Bret Easton Ellis
Year:
2000
3,785 Views


VAN PATTEN:

Whose moronic idea was it to drink dry beers? I need a Scotch.

The sounds of the bar fade down. The following voiceover runs over images of Bateman and his friends ordering drinks, talking on portable phones, talking, laughing - combined with images of other very similar young men at other tables drinking, talking on portable phones, talking, laughing,

BATEMAN (V.O.):

There are no more barriers to cross. All I have in common with the uncontrollable and the insane, the vicious and the evil, all the mayhem I have caused and my utter indifference toward it, I have now surpassed...My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone. In fact I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape.

INT. HARRY'S BAR - EARLY EVENING

As the film ends the camera moves CLOSE on Bateman. He is leaning back in his leather armchair, drinking a double Scotch, his eyes blank.

BATEMAN (V.O.):

But even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. My punishment continues to allude me. I gain no deeper knowledge about myself, no new knowledge can be extracted from my telling. This confession has meant nothing...

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Bret Easton Ellis

Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 languages. He was at first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney. He is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a writer, is the expression of extreme acts and opinions in an affectless style. Ellis employs a technique of linking novels with common, recurring characters. Ellis made his debut at age 21 with the controversial bestseller Less Than Zero (1985), published by Simon & Schuster, a zeitgeist novel about wealthy amoral young people in Los Angeles. His third novel, American Psycho (1991) was his most successful. On its release, the literary establishment widely condemned the novel as overly violent and misogynistic. Though many petitions to ban the book saw Ellis dropped by Simon & Schuster, the resounding controversy convinced Alfred A. Knopf to release it as a paperback later that year. In later years, Ellis' novels have become increasingly metafictional. Lunar Park (2005), a pseudo-memoir and ghost story, received positive reviews. Imperial Bedrooms (2010), marketed as a sequel to Less Than Zero, continues in this vein. Four of Ellis's works have been made into films. Less Than Zero was rapidly adapted for screen, leading to the release of a starkly different film of the same name in 1987. Mary Harron's adaptation of American Psycho was released to generally positive reviews in 2000 and went on to achieve cult status. Roger Avary's 2002 adaptation The Rules of Attraction made modest box office returns but went on to attract a cult following. 2008's The Informers, based on Ellis's collection of short stories, was critically panned. Ellis also wrote the screenplay for the critically derided 2013 film The Canyons, an original work. more…

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Submitted by CV1405 on April 10, 2023

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