Leo DiCaprio Dropped Out of American Psycho Because of... Christian Bale's Stepmother
Surprising circumstances brought Christian Bale back to play Patrick Bateman.
When American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis was published in 1991, it became a bestseller and the movie rights were bought less than a year after the book's release.
The main character was eventually played by Christian Bale, but he only got into the project by an accident – the studio wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play the main lead.
After the movie rights were bought, the project was in limbo for several years. As a result, Mary Harron, a representative of independent cinema, was chosen to direct.
Christian Bale was cast in the lead role of investment banker and murderer Patrick Bateman. However, when the Lionsgate studio joined the production, the producers decided that they needed a bigger name on the posters.
When the search for a new star began, Lionsgate decided to turn to Leonardo DiCaprio, who had just finished filming Titanic and had become the biggest movie star of the time.
The actor was offered $20 million for his role in the movie.
Leo was interested, but Harron felt that the actor was not the right type for the role, and that if he starred, the movie would have "the wrong audience," apparently referring to numerous enthusiastic female fans.
But Lionsgate didn't listen to Harron, instead insisting on DiCaprio's candidacy and reportedly allowing the actor to make his own short list of potential directors to replace Mary.
Eventually, Oliver Stone agreed to direct. But soon after, both DiCaprio and Stone dropped out, while Bale and Harron returned.
Why did Leo suddenly turn down a role that had seemed so attractive to him? One woman was to blame – the famous feminist Gloria Steinem managed to dissuade the young actor from the role.
Steinem was a vocal opponent of both the book and the movie due to the abundance of violence against female characters.
Steinem once invited DiCaprio to a football game and told him that participating in this movie would be bad for his career. Leo reportedly took this to heart and dropped out of the movie shortly thereafter.
But Steinem herself, ironically, ended up indirectly associated with American Psycho.
In 2000, the same year the movie was released, she married entrepreneur and eco-activist David Bale, father of Christian Bale, who ended up playing the main role.