The Mary Harron adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho is actually pretty brilliant when you think about it. The content in Ellis' book is absolutely horrifying - to the point that you begin to worry about the author's mental state - and many believed that a film version would be impossible without betraying the novel or getting an NC-17 rating (or worse). But Harron's movie successfully tones down the sickening violence and successfully maintains the satirical edge (seriously, the movie is as much a comedy as it is horror). And that's not even mentioning the performance of Christian Bale, who is the perfect Patrick Bateman. So, naturally, Lionsgate wants to remake the movie.
According to Variety, the studio has hired Noble Jones to write and direct a new version of American Psycho. Unlike the first film, which only came out in 2000, the remake won't be set in the 80s, but will instead be modernized, with the story looking at "how Bateman would fare in modern day Gotham." Jones is a fairly new filmmaker, as his only previous credit is as a second unit director on David Fincher's The Social Network. The story says that while the project is in development, it hasn't yet been greenlit. Jones pitched the project months ago and recently turned in his first draft of the script.
While Mary Harron's film has gained cult status in the last 11 years, it did fairly poor business at the box office, pulling in only $15 million domestically (albeit the project was made for $7 million). But the idea of setting the story in modern times is horrible. Remember that satirical edge I mentioned earlier? That whole thing was based in the yuppie culture of the go-go 1980s. While the culture of greed obviously continues today, making the movie a period piece was interesting. What's the point of setting it in the now?
