Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming take on American Psycho recently found its star in Austin Butler, but the internet can’t shake the idea that Jacob Elordi should be in the role instead.
For context, Guadagnino — known for films like Challengers and Call Me By Your Name — is on board to direct the horror satire, though it won’t be a remake of the 2000 film starring Christian Bale.
Instead, the upcoming film will be a more faithful adaptation of the original novel, written by Bret Easton Ellis and published in 1991. Under Guadagnino’s lens, this interpretation is said to focus more on the erotic elements of the source material, in keeping with the director’s films like Bones and All and Queer, as opposed to the 2000 film’s more slasher-friendly tendencies.
Naturally, since Guadagnino has a knack for making a muse out of buzzy internet boyfriends like Timothee Chalamet, Drew Starkey, and Josh O’Connor, Euphoria star Jacob Elordi was long rumored to be cast in the title role of the new American Psycho. Speculation was only fuelled when images of the director and actor sharing a meal began circulating online, making it feel as though the Aussie heartthrob was all but confirmed to be the new Patrick Bateman. Unfortunately, those feelings were dashed with the reveal of Butler’s casting, and the internet reacted with an expected dose of both disappointment and hilarity.
“And nothing for Jacob Elordi,” one fan wrote in response to the news, with another adding that “WE WANTED JACOB ELORDI.” Others mourned the loss of both Elordi and fellow fan frontrunner Starkey, saying fans of those actors were “fighting just for Austin Butler to get the role.” Elsewhere, users imagined that “Jacob Elordi is somewhere punching a mirror” in response to the news, or mentioned the shared history between Butler and Elordi that might’ve made the latter’s loss of the role hit even harder.
Butler and Elordi have played two very different versions of Elvis Presley in recent years, with the former taking on the title role of Baz Lurhman’s Elvis in 2022 and Elordi portraying the iconic singer in last year’s Priscilla. Beyond that, the pair also have a shared dating pool, having both been romantically linked to actress Kai Gerber. These connections, according to fans, bring an added layer of failure to Elordi losing out on the American Psycho role. “Austin Butler taking Kaia Gerber away from Jacob Elordi and now the American Psycho Luca role.” one fan wrote, with another quipping that Elordi has “been out-Elvis’d.”
It’s an important reminder that while undeniably fun, fan-casting exercises often end in disappointment, but perhaps not all hope for an Elordi and Guadagnino is lost, since the actor has certainly been in Guadagnino’s orbit. The director has worked with Elordi’s Euphoria co-star Zendaya in Challengers, and the pair formed part of the same jury at the Marrakech Film Festival last month.
In an even more promising collaboration, Guadagnino actually directed Elordi in a recent Chanel commercial that co-starred Margot Robbie, who will also appear alongside the actor in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Wuthering Heights remake. Between Fennell and Guillermo del Toro — who is directing the upcoming Frankenstein adaptation, also starring Elordi — the actor already has a starry list of filmmaker collaborations, but here’s hoping he is still able fulfill fans’ wishes someday and become a Guadagnino muse.