Chloe Sevigny has revealed she found Christian Bale’s intense work on American Psycho ‘challenging’.
Bale, 50, who played yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman in the 2000 film, was known for his rigorous process of embodying the psychopath – with director Mary Harron previously revealing he even managed to sweating for his shots.
Sevigny, 49 – who played his sweet assistant Jean – said she struggled with Bale’s process – telling Vanity fair there was a “challenging dynamic” on set that made her “shut down.”
She said: ‘I tried to respect his process, which I found challenging because I’m very gregarious, stupid and goofy, unbeknownst to the general public. When people take themselves so seriously, it kind of shuts me down, even though I take my job very seriously and I love acting and stuff. I was really intimidated by his process and intimidated by him, and I wanted a little more generosity to make myself feel more comfortable, which is my own ego.
Bale also transformed his physique, constantly speaking with an American accent and refusing to interact with others on set for the role, with Sevigny saying, “It was a very challenging dynamic for me, but I don’t think I thought he that was. bad. [Laughs] I was just a little confused, like, why aren’t you social?
Chloe Sevigny has revealed she found Christian Bale’s intense method in American Psycho ‘challenging’ – depicted as Patrick Bateman and Jean in the 2000 film
Bale, 50, was known for his rigorous process of embodying the serial killer – with director Mary Harron previously revealing he even managed to break a sweat at the right time for his shoot.
“I didn’t even really know what this Method thing was.
“I never had any formal training; I guess I’m just kind of ‘faking it till you make it’. But during the whole Method thing I was thinking, what is this approach anyway? It was very intimidating.”
The star was interviewed alongside former American Psycho star Josh Lucas – who played Bateman’s colleague Craig McDermott – with Lucas saying he initially found Bale’s performance ‘terrible’.
He said: ‘I remember the first scene I did with him, I looked at him and he seemed so out of tune – and I realize now that it was a bloody brilliant choice he made. That was an actor who was already on such a completely different level, and who was able to bring these crazy layers to what he did. At the time I thought it was fake acting, but it was the exact opposite.”
In 2004, Bale lost five stone playing the emaciated, sleepless Trevor Reznik in The Machinist by barely sleeping and surviving on a diet of coffee and apples.
After landing the role of the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins soon after, Christian quickly built up his diminutive 121lb (8st 6lb) frame in just six weeks.
In 2022, Bale revealed that he was paid even less than the makeup artists who worked on the film.
In an interview with GQBale recalled being ridiculed by makeup artists over the pay gap and claimed he was paid the legal minimum amount.
The star was interviewed alongside former American Psycho star Josh Lucas – who played Bateman’s colleague Craig McDermott (right) – with Lucas saying he initially thought Bale’s performance was ‘terrible’.
In 2022, Bale revealed that he was paid even less than the makeup artists who worked on the film
“They paid me the bare minimum they were legally allowed to pay me,” he told the magazine. “And I had a house that I shared with my father and my sister, and it was foreclosed.
‘So the first thing was, ‘Holy crap. I need to get some money,’ because I did American Psycho, but I remember one time I was in the makeup trailer and the makeup artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than whoever.
‘And that was my motivation after that. It was just, ‘I have to get enough so the house doesn’t get foreclosed on.’