Leonardo DiCaprio — ‘American Psycho’
Christian Bale was the perfect choice for sociopath and (possible) serial killer Patrick Bateman in Mary Harron’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ ‘American Psycho.’ With his physique, beautifully chiseled face, and his pompous demeanor, we couldn’t possibly picture the movie without Bale as the lead.
But once upon a time, Leonardo DiCaprio was considered for the role of Bateman — after becoming the It boy in 1997 with ‘Titanic,’ every studio in town had DiCaprio on their wishlist. And while Harron, who had been working exhaustively with writer Guinever Turner on adapting the film, had already chosen Christian Bale, Lionsgate was making plans of their own to hire a bigger star for the risky project. They put out an offer of $20 million to DiCaprio and announced his involvement at the 1998 Cannes film festival, but Harron thought he “wasn’t remotely right [for the part]. There’s something very boyish about him. He’s not credible as one of these tough Wall Street guys. He brought way too much baggage with him — I did not want to deal with someone who had a 13-year-old fan base.”
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