Willem Dafoe Had to Play This American Psycho Scene Three Times

In American Psycho, Willem Dafoe plays the role of detective Donald Kimball who investigates the disappearance of Paul Allen (played by Jared Leto ).

To get some information on Paul Allen's disappearance, Kimball questions his coworker, Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale ) who is the actual murderer.

The scenes of Dafoe's detective interrogating the protagonist are one of the most tense sequences of the film. But there is a secret that makes these scenes so special.

As it turns out, Dafoe was instructed by the director Mary Harron to act out the exact same scenes three times. The most interesting part is that Dafoe had to play in three different ways for each take: oblivious, suspicious and aware.

When Dafoe acts oblivious, Kimball seems friendly and open. When suspicious, he keeps a straight face, makes intense eye-contact with Bateman, and eagerly tries to get more information.

And when aware, he indirectly shows his intentions to get Bateman's confession.

These three versions of the same dialogues were then cut and combined, and that is what we saw in the final cut. That is exactly what made these scenes feel uncertain and tense.

However, there might be another explanation. The director may have chosen to edit three takes together with the purpose of conveying the idea that Patrick, given his mental disorder, lacks the ability to perceive body language, thus making it difficult for him to determine whether the detective is being friendly or suspicious.

As we know it is not a pure fact that Bateman actually killed Allen, as it might have been a product of his imagination.

Having said that, it can be suggested that the detective symbolizes Bateman's feelings of guilt regarding Allen's presumed murder.

In the scenario where Bateman didn't actually kill Allen and it was merely an elaborate fantasy, this interpretation could indicate that Bateman's mental state is unstable, as he misinterprets the detective's motives in investigating Allen's disappearance.

Whatever intention the director had, one thing is clear for sure — Mary Harron did a great job with the cast, using such talent as Willem Defoe's at full capacity, which certainly added to the ambiguous perception of the film.

Source: YouTube