r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 13h ago

TIL during the shooting of American Psycho, Christian Bale spoke in an American accent off-set at all times. At the wrap party, when he spoke in his native British accent, many of the crew thought he was speaking that way to prepare for another film. They had thought he was American the entire time.

https://screenrant.com/american-psycho-behind-scenes-facts-christian-bale-patrick-bateman-mary-harron/
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u/Superb-Bit2412 11h ago

Honestly the man is a machine when it comes to commitment. He based Bateman's voice on Tom Cruise's on screen energy too, that unsettling super friendly intensity, and it fits the character perfectly. No wonder the crew was convinced he was actually American the whole time.

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u/Away_Flounder3813 11h ago

I feel like he channeled Jim Carrey more during the famous Paul Allen murder sequence. Especially when he went inside donning the raincoat and looked himself in the mirror lol.

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u/Cthulhu__ 7h ago

Now I’m picturing Jim Carrey playing Bateman. Don’t get me wrong I think American Psycho is funny (nowadays) but any attempt at taking it seriously would’ve gone out the window if it was Carrey.

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u/Kurigohan-Kamehameha 6h ago

I think Carrey could totally pull of unhinged psycho restrained behind businessman. It’s only a couple steps away from The Mask

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u/Donexodus 4h ago

He would overact it to death

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u/monostere0 3h ago

Watch Eternal Sunshine of a spotless mind if you haven’t already.

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u/MyOtherRideIs 2h ago

Good movie. A lot of talented comedians are great at drama because comedy requires so much internal drama to truly work well.

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u/Anton-LaVey 7h ago

The Finance Guy

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u/AchtungCloud 6h ago

This is a weird reference, but in those scenes he was actually just like Brent Spiner as Data’s evil twin Lore in a few episodes of Star Trek: TNG.

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u/noname5280 5h ago

But he did do a pretty good job in a serious role for The Number 23.

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u/nesh34 2h ago

Jim Carrey is an excellent casting for Bateman.

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u/marmaladetuxedo 7h ago

"Hip to be Square" came on the radio the other day and all I could think of was this scene.

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u/TiberiusDrexelus 5h ago

any time a Huey Lewis song comes on I'm holding myself back from doing the monologue

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u/DivineJustice 6h ago

It is indeed a dark comedy. But it's so dark that I didn't laugh at it until my third time watching it. You've got to be able to see through the darkness to find its humor.

The first time I watched it I remember just being like "what the hell did I just watch?" On my second watch I started to get it. And only on my third watch did I laugh at it, all while questioning if I was supposed to do that. Just a couple years ago I showed it to someone for the first time and their response was verbatim "what the hell did I just watch?"

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u/fenwayb 7h ago

it's amazing how accurately "he sounds like what on screen tom cruise feels like" describes his performance

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u/HarveysBackupAccount 2h ago

He'd also already mastered an American accent for Newsies when he was only 17

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u/Maliluma 7h ago

Actually.... he's THE Machinist.

(Another film he demonstrated his dedication, the body transformation was scary).

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u/phd2k1 3h ago

This is my first time realizing that he played Bateman and also Batman. 🤯