The idea of a businessman who peaked in the ’80s later running for president isn’t as crazy an idea right now as it was, let’s say, four years ago. But Christian Bale, who recently participated in an oral history in commemoration of American Psycho’s 20th anniversary, says that his psychotic investment banker, Patrick Bateman, would probably go the exact same route as Donald Trump did if he were real and around today.
Bateman, a murderous and status-obsessed parody of Wall Street yuppies, was always a fan of Trump. In Brett Easton Ellis’s 1991 book, on which the movie's based, Bateman clearly idolizes Trump, who at the time was just a businessman rather than a reality TV host or the president of the United States. Bateman models himself after Trump, attempting at numerous points to emulate him in high society—when Bateman isn't out there committing brutal murders, that is.
In MovieMaker’s oral history, which was published late last month, Bale reflected on his portrayal of Bateman in the 2000 film adaptation. The actor explained that he thought of Bateman as something of an alien who attempted to blend in and succeed by taking after powerful figures like Trump and Tom Cruise.
“I mean, look, if someone had landed at that time and he was looking around for cultural alpha males, business-world alpha males, et cetera, then Tom Cruise certainly would have been one of those that he would have looked at and aspired to be and attempted to emulate,” Bale said.
“Likewise, Donald Trump would have been somebody he would have looked at and said, ‘Ah, right. I need to have a little bit of that as well,’” Bale continued. “If Bateman were around today he’d probably be inspired to run for president.”
Imagine—President Bateman stashing a body underneath his desk in the Oval Office and then tweeting about “Huey Lewis and the Fake News.”
It’s worth remembering, perhaps, that in August of last year, Ivanka Trump revealed that Bale as Bateman in American Psycho—who again was explicitly modeled after Donald Trump—was her “ideal man” when she was younger.
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