talk to GQBallet explained how he was paid an embarrassingly low amount for the role. In fact, it was the absolute legal minimum that Lions Gate could get away with by paying him. As the actor recalls, “I remember one time I was sitting in a makeup van and they laughed at me for being paid less than any of the makeup artists.”
After losing some of the biggest stars of the day – DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp were tied to the project at various points – the financiers apparently didn’t think Bale was that worthwhile after all. It’s true that at the time, she was little to no public recognition, arguably her biggest role ever. Child actor in Steven Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun”. That’s why, according to Bale, “No one except the director wanted me to do it. That’s why they told me they would only make it if they could pay me that amount.”
Luckily, “American Psycho” would be Bale’s debut role and the actor was widely praised for his dark humorous interpretation of Bateman. He was apparently the only one who shared Harron’s view that the notorious psychopath was some kind of empty, meaningless vortex of humanity. Bateman wasn’t a person, it was a collection of commonplace ideas and quotes stolen from the yuppie and commercial culture of the 1980s, and it was so extreme that the bullshit couldn’t help but be funny.
Bale’s recognition of this inherent humor wasn’t enough for the film’s financial backers to pay him a fair wage or even hire him. But just like the novel and the movie, this is another scorching accusation against American psychopaths of the financial world.