PremiumWhen American Psycho star Jared Leto didn't know Christian Bale was about to run at him with an axe leaving him terrified - Read on
American Psycho is a movie that is not for the faint hearted and when Christian Bale was told to hide a shocking scene from Jared Leto, it was a shocker.
Last Updated: 07.19 PM, May 17, 2024
Some movies have the power to spook you to the extent that you watch most of them with your eyes shut. The idea of the horrors that the violent screenplay is about to unfold on the screen is disturbing. One of the movies that fits in this category is American Psycho. Directed by Mary Harron and starring Christian Bale and Jared Leto, the movie is a disturbing piece of art. It’s about a man who appears normal to the world but is deep down succumbing to the evil inside him, turning into a violent psychopathic man. While every scene beyond a point in American Psycho is shocking, none is as shocking as Bale’s Bateman running towards Leto’s Paul with an axe. Did you know Jared was unaware that this was going to happen at the scene?
The American Psycho Scene
Well, yes. According to Mary Harron, the filmmaker, Jared Leto, had no idea that Christian Bale was going to run behind him with an axe in the scene. They kept it a secret even in the rehearsals to get an organic reaction from the actor. So when Bale actually ran behind him with an axe, the actor was shocked and left scared. The scene you see in the movie is Jared actually being scared. Read on to learn everything you should know about the same.
"We decided to shoot the rehearsal of the actual murder without telling Jared," said Mary Harron while talking to EW. "Christian held back his performance until then so that it would be a real surprise. When he screams 'Hey Paul' and Jared turns around and sees Christian running towards him with the axe, he looks genuinely shocked."
The Scene After That
Mary had Jared Leto’s real reaction and now wanted to shoot the scene where he repeatedly swings the axe towards Paul. "It was one of those scenes where everything does fall into place," says Harron. "By accident, the blood spray only hit one side of Christian's face. When you look at him head-on, his face seems covered in blood. But when you look at him from the side, his face looks quite clean. It was a perfect metaphor for the Jekyll-and-Hyde aspect of Bateman: pristine on the outside, bloody and psychotic on the inside. And it all happened by chance."
The American Psycho director concluded, "It's not easy to do an axe murder. [The crew's] feelings mirrored the image of Patrick Bateman on the sofa, breathing a sigh of relief, rewarding himself with his cigar, and reflecting on a job well done."
American Psycho is now streaming on Lionsgate Play in India, and you can watch it with your OTTplay Premium subscription. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more information on this and everything else in the world of streaming and films.