This Day in Horror: Happy Birthday Christian Bale
Born on this day in 1974: actor Christian Bale
Bates has starred in a variety of high-profile films, but horror fans will know him as Patrick Bateman in Mary Harron’s American Psycho. Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho follows wealthy, vain, alpha-male Patrick Bateman as he murders his way through New York during the excess of 1980s Wall Street.
Although Bale was hand-picked by Harron for the lead role, Lionsgate decided that he wasn’t famous enough and tried to replace him with Leonardo DiCaprio. Harron refused to even meet with DiCaprio, deciding that he was too “boyish” for the tone she was aiming for with the film. The studio considered other directors. Eventually, DiCaprio took The Beachand Harron and Bale returned.
Though American Psycho was Bale’s only “true” horror film, he has appeared in a number of genre-adjacent films, including as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, and as John Connor in Terminator Salvation.
Categorized:News This Day in Horror
