No Movie Is Safe : American Psycho Gets A Remake, Margot Robbie Rumored To Be New Patrick Bateman

By :Dominic La-Viola

The Sun reported that an unnamed insider close to the project claimed that “A remake of American Psycho is in the works, and Margot is in talks to play a female version of Patrick Bateman.” The source added, ” The novel and the film were so controversial, and the people working on the remake wanted to twist the narrative by having a female actress take on the lead role of Bateman.”

Now, with all due respect, Margot Robbie is a fantastic actress, and I believe she would kill as a psychotic serial killer. Whose alter ego is a VP of a major corporation.

However, what is the thought process behind having yet another remake of a film that’s not only still relatively new? In comparison, it’s not as bad as the superhero films being remade. Although still not something that I feel we really need. More remakes of.

At this time, no one has confirmed that Margot Robbie is attached to the project. It has been said that this remake has been in the works for some time. That Patrick Schwarzenegger and Austin Butler were previously “tied” to the role. 

That this newest casting inquiry might just be a rumor, although director Luca Guadagnino (“Challengers” and “After The Hunt”) is going to be directing the remake and has teased a full reimagining of the source material.

With that being said, if they are going to remake the film, I’d say make Margot Robbie the lead. Out of the three of them, I think she would be the most interesting choice. Not to mention they could then set it in the late 2000s to the mid-2010s instead of the 80s. 

Giving the film a new feel and tone, capturing the time frame in which,  according to Google and Google’s AI search, was the prime time when women executives were on the rise. “2010s-2020s: The conversation shifted towards actively making the workplace more equitable. This era saw increased focus on diversity and inclusion initiatives, flexible work arrangements, and the promotion of women to senior management roles.”

Making that time frame the perfect setting for a female version of Patrick Bateman and “American Psycho” for the novel and the movie was about the alternative reality that people in New York and that industry lived in. 

It was about delusion and their disconnect from reality and the world around them. The materialist subculture. A world of self-absorbed, narcissistic people. 

A film in which the main character was now a female, trying to climb the corporate ladder, to get to the next promotion. Would give the film a different look and feel.  If done correctly, it could play less of a remake and more of its own thing. 

For as much as the film was focused on materialistic things, it was also very much about status and power. Something that from a woman’s perspective and point of view would change the trajectory of the story, given their repression and lack of representation in previous decades such as the 70s and 80s. 

We’ve seen something of the female version of Bateman in “American Psycho 2,” although that was a different style of film. More of a forced sequel than a re-invisioning of the source material.