Christian Bale's portrayal of psychopathic killer Patrick Bateman has become iconic over the years, and for good reason. In American Psychologya film based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, Bateman's unpleasant personality and over-the-top reactions in his head are disturbing and yet somehow believable. However, as a result of his memorably over-the-top performance, Christian Bale decided to model Bateman on a real person to give him some authenticity.
Surprisingly, Bale's portrayal was not modeled after a serial killer, but rather another movie actor, Tom Cruise. When American PsychologyPatrick Bateman is not serious or mean, often sporting a big smile and speaking in a forcedly happy manner. It almost seems like he is not human, but rather someone who observes humans and understands how they should behave in certain situations. Bale clearly thought a lot about how he wanted Bateman to behave and drew inspiration from one of the most famous movie stars, accidentally linking Tom Cruise to American Psychology.
Updated September 4, 2024 by Arthur Goyaz: Tom Cruise and Patrick Bateman have little in common beyond superficial mannerisms, but they both represent two extremes of masculinity in contemporary society. This article has been updated to discuss the symbolism behind their respective personalities.
Tom Cruise's Interviews Inspired Christian Bale in American Psycho
Bale doesn't consider himself a method actor, but becoming Patrick Bateman was a process
In 2002, Mila Kunis starred in the standalone sequel to
American Psychology
. The film opens with her character, Rachael Newman, killing Patrick Bateman, who is never shown on screen, and becoming a serial killer herself. The sequel was widely rejected by fans and is rarely remembered today.
In an interview with director Mary Harron, the inspiration for Christian Bale American Psychology turned out to be action superstar Tom Cruise. Harron recalled that Bale called her one day to tell her he had found inspiration for American Psychology. After watching Tom Cruise give an interview to the late commentator David Letterman, Bale saw exactly the qualities he wanted to portray in Bateman. Harron described Cruise as having this “intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes” and that Bale was actually surprised by his energy. He thought he would fit naturally into the unnatural business world of American Psychologywhich certainly happened.
Tom Cruise is known for being very intense, both on screen and behind the scenes. Additionally, the actor always appears incredibly happy thanks to his big smile and exaggerated movements. Although Cruise's co-stars generally praise the actor, some viewers have labeled his energy as forced, like that of Patrick Bateman. Even so, others see Cruise's mannerisms as nothing more than a genuine enthusiasm for the art of filmmakingIn any case, one cannot deny the superficiality of the actor's behavior, which explains why Christian Bale thought it would be perfect to adapt it for American Psychology.
Christian Bale Used Tom Cruise's Mannerisms for Patrick Bateman
Bateman walks the line between passion and strength
Christian Bale and Tom Cruise have both had the infamous audio leak of their angry outbursts on the sets of their films
Terminator The Salvation
AND
Mission: Impossible — Discovery of Death
respectively.
While Patrick Bateman is obviously much more aggressive than Tom Cruise, there are hints of his personality in American PsychologyCruise has built an interesting image for himself, but few people really know the man behind his poster-boy poses. For example, when Bateman takes a drunk co-worker home and prepares to murder him, his big smile and wide eyes are eerily reminiscent of Cruise. And just like Cruise's Letterman interview, everything Patrick Bateman talks about, especially music, he does with a deep passion, walking the line between genuine and strong.
Despite the resemblance, it is safe to assume that Christian Bale's performance in American Psychology was not intentionally targeting Tom Cruise by associating him with a serial killer. It would appear that Christian Bale has nothing personal against Cruise, but he jumped at the chance to create a believable character.. He effectively used Cruise's public idiosyncrasies to bring Patrick Bateman's complex personality to life. But despite this, some viewers dislike Cruise because of his involvement in the Scientology movement, while many who have worked with him insist that he is one of the kindest and most professional people they have ever met. Even so, his association with the group has created a different public image for Cruise than he had in the 1980s and 1990s, giving rise to various caricatures, including Bale's iconic performance as Patrick Bateman.
The Duality of Patrick Bateman and Tom Cruise's Idea of Masculinity
Cruise's positivity is inspiring, while Bateman is downright terrifying.
Tom Cruise is known for insisting on performing most of his own stunts in action films. Some of Cruise's most challenging stunts include scaling the outside of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, during the filming of
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
and jumping from one skyscraper to another in
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
On this last occasion he broke his foot and continued shooting the scene to get the most out of it.
The public is mature enough to understand it Bale's interpretation of Tom Cruise's mannerisms does not imply the actor is a serial killer. While the similarities between them are as darkly comical as they are fascinating, it's worth pointing out the differences as well. There are interesting parallels to be drawn between the two types of masculinity the two exude. For one thing, Cruise has played a Bateman-like character before: Frank TJ Mackey, from Magnoliaa role that earned Cruise an Oscar nomination. In the film, Frank works as a motivational speaker for a male audience. He uses a highly misogynistic and superficial view of self-conscious masculinity to manipulate his followers, while repressing his own vulnerability, most notably to male figures like his father.
Patrick Bateman is much closer to Frank than to Tom Cruise. His shattered psyche reaches the point of collapse in American PsychologyThe final moments of, when it turns out that this ruthless serial killer that viewers have been following was nothing more than a false personality that Bateman loved to fantasize about. A fantasy that was true only to him. It is the epitome of materialism: when you have everything, you have to start imagining that you have what you cannot have. Patrick Bateman's vision of masculinity is based on the power of the image, of the superficial. Whatever is within reach, he grabs it and feels good until the superficial state of having it all becomes too much to bear.
The image that Tom Cruise conveys when talking about masculinity, on the other hand, is that of a positive connotation of hyper-independence. He inspires his fans with his signature “you can do it” charm. which, truth be told, works. Cruise is a poster boy in the most traditional sense, becoming a genre himself during Hollywood's most difficult times. No matter how superficial his mannerisms may seem, his charisma is infectious and continues to inspire devotion to moviegoing and seeing a film on the big screen.
After the fall of the New Hollywood movement, Cruise's face on an action movie poster was enough to attract the attention of the crowd. And it still is today, which explains why Top Gun: The Legend Continues grossed over $1 billion at the box office in 2022. He is known for his stunts, even if they involve riding a motorcycle off a cliff. If there is such a thing as positive superficiality, Tom Cruise nails it, and as long as he is bringing people to the movies, it is best to let him continue to do his thing.
Who else inspired Patrick Bateman in American Psycho?
Nicolas Cage was another inspiration for Christian Bale
Christian Bale and Nicolas Cage worked together a year later
American Psychology
he came out, acting in
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Bale was also said to have been considered to play a fictionalized version of Cage in
The unbearable weight of enormous talent
before the actor agreed to play himself.
Twenty-three years after its initial release, American Psychology is still considered a cinematic masterpiece and has managed to remain surprisingly culturally relevant, even for a new generation of viewers. With over two decades of hindsight, some of the widely reported stories about Christian Bale's performance in the 2000s classic can be put into order. Over the years, stories about Bateman being directly based on Tom Cruise have become very well known, but it's not as simple as some people may have previously thought. While it's true that the actor based parts of the Patrick Bateman character on Tom Cruise, there was more than one person who inspired the creation of the iconic serial killer.
One of the main sources of inspiration for Patrick Bateman, besides Tom Cruise, was the meme machine Nicolas CageSecond Christian Bale: The Secret History of the Darkest Batman by Harrison Cheung, Bale based his performance in part on Nicolas Cage's in Vampire's KissThe film in question sees Cage, known for his over-the-top acting and loud roles, play a literary agent who slowly edges towards madness, not unlike Patrick Bateman in American Psychology. Vampire's Kiss has become a cult classic, with Cage's performance remaining one of the film's most memorable parts. It would seem that Patrick Bateman's more unbalanced side stems from his portrayal of Cage, although elements of Tom Cruise still remain scattered throughout the character's personality.
An actor often draws a lot of real-world inspiration for every single character he plays. Especially in a role as complex and deep as Patrick Bateman, it’s no surprise that Christian Bale sought to base his character on real influences. Likely an amalgamation of many different people, including Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage, Patrick Bateman is a character that speaks to generations because of how real he is.