Christian Bale reveals being paid less than his make-up artists for American Psycho: ‘They were laughing at me’

Actor Christian Bale has opened up that the amount he received for his 2000 film American Psycho was the ‘absolute minimum’ that the team was ‘legally allowed’ to pay him. In a recent interview, Christian revealed that though initially, he thought he got a ‘bit of money, later he came to know that he was getting paid less than any of his make-up artists. (Also Read | Christian Bale says he would return to screen as Batman but only if Christopher Nolan returns too)

American Psycho is a 2000 horror film directed by Mary Harron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Guinevere Turner. The film stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a New York City investment banker who leads a dual life as a serial killer. The film also features Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, and Samantha Mathis, among others. The story is based on Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 novel of the same name.

In an interview with GQ, Christian said, “Well, 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 make-up trailer and the make-up artists were laughing at me because I was getting paid less than any of them. And so that was my motivation after that. It was just: ‘I got to get enough that the house doesn’t get repossessed’.”

When asked the reason for being paid less, he added, “Uh, it was the nature of me in it (American Psycho). Nobody wanted me to do it except the director. So they said they would only make it if they could pay me that amount. I was prepping for it when other people were playing the part. I was still prepping for it. And, you know, it moved on. I lost my mind. But I won it back.”

Christian features in David O Russell’s period drama Amsterdam. The film released in US theatres on October 7. It will be available for streaming in India on Disney+ Hotstar soon. The film also stars Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, and Zoe Saldana.