Deadline has announced that, with flagrant disregard for what made the original source material so great, FX has put a sequel TV series to American Psycho in development. There have long been rumours of a remake on the cards, even though the original adaptation didn’t actually come out that long ago, but it seems like a TV series – if unsuccessful – would scotch any idea of that. If the American Psycho TV series went on to Breaking Bad levels of quality and infamy, then obviously a remake would become extremely likely.
The show comes courtesy of FX and Lionsgate TV, the televisual arm of Lionsgate Films (duh), distributors of the 2000 original. Former head of production at Lionsgate-turned producer Allison Shearmur, along with writer Stefan Jaworski, plan to strip away the central metaphor of the novel by removing it from its 1980’s period setting and setting it in the modern day.
Secondly, any chance that the events of the novel were imaginary (presenting an interesting duality of meaning) will also be removed, by having Patrick Bateman still committing murders well into his fifties.
Finally, in what will no doubt cause many a Dexter comparison, they plan on removing the terrifying “lone wolf” aspect of his personality by giving him a protege (!), who will “become every bit his equal — a next-generation American Psycho” in a “sadistic social experiment.” Christ.
Stay tuned for casting news, which raises many interesting questions – who could play the aging Patrick Bateman? Kevin Spacey? Bryan Cranston would be fantastic, but that means the show would become unfavorably compared with Breaking Bad. Could an American Psycho TV series somehow not be terrible? Is this where we’re at now? After his last few underwhelming novels and a truly awful film, does Bret Easton Ellis really need more money? Leave your thoughts below.