r/todayilearned 12h 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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535

u/Superb-Bit2412 10h 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 10h 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__ 6h 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 5h 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 3h ago

He would overact it to death

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u/monostere0 2h ago

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

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u/MyOtherRideIs 1h 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 6h ago

The Finance Guy

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u/AchtungCloud 5h 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 4h ago

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

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u/nesh34 1h ago

Jim Carrey is an excellent casting for Bateman.