Christian Bale Made Less On ‘American Psycho’ Than The Makeup Artists

Christian Bale received acclaim for his portrayal of Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. With his latest role as Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, Bale has gained new fans. Bale recently revealed that he made less on ‘American Psycho’ than the film’s makeup artists.

It’s almost crazy to think that Christian Bale earned peanuts on the dollar compared to his “American Psycho” colleagues. Only director Mary Harron’s vision for Bale in the role allowed for the legendary portrayal of yuppie-turned-serial-killer Patrick Bateman, which Bale received when Leonardo DiCaprio declined the part. Bale said in a GQ cover story that the makeup artists on “American Psycho” made more money than him.

In honesty, the first thing was that I’d taken so long trying to do it, and they had paid me the absolute minimum they were legally allowed to pay me. And I had a house that I was sharing with my dad and my sister and that was getting repossessed. So the first thing was, ‘Holy crap. I’ve got to get a bit of money,’ because I’ve got ‘American Psycho’ done, but I remember one time sitting in the makeup trailer and the makeup artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than any of them. And so that was my motivation after that, was just, ‘I got to get enough that the house doesn’t get repossessed.

Bale made fun of the fact that DiCaprio helped launch the careers of many up-and-coming actors from the 1990s and the early 2000s because the “Titanic” actor was first considered for Bateman’s role in “American Psycho.” Actually, DiCaprio was reputedly persuaded to reject “American Psycho” by Bale’s stepmother Gloria Steinem, who had not yet wed Bale’s father in September 2000.

Steinem advised DiCaprio not to follow up his “Titanic” heartthrob role for a movie that includes “horrendous brutality toward women,” according to the co-writer of the movie, Guinevere Turner, in an oral history for the 20th anniversary of the feature. Stay tuned to Thirsty for the latest news and updates.

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