The White Lotus star Patrick Schwarzenegger appears to be in the frame to play Patrick Bateman in Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho.
After a bit of back and forth, director Luca Guadagnino now plans to tackle an adaptation of the Brett Easton Ellis novel, American Psycho, at some point. Given that the filmmaker already has Sgt Rock, Aryan Papers and Artificial on his rather extensive slate (and these are just projects revealed this year), who knows when he’ll actually get around to the 1980s satire of consumerism and yuppie culture.
When he does, though, he’ll need to cast the lead role of Patrick Bateman. And given that Mary Harron’s 2000 version of the film launched Christian Bale’s career into the stratosphere, there’s already major interest in who might be the eventual lead in Guadagnino’s highly-anticipated take on the material.
One name that kept popping up when stories of Guadagnino’s involvement first circulated was Austin Butler, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, there was never a lot to that story. More recently, it’s one of the stars of TV’s The White Lotus that has risen to the forefront: Patrick Schwarzenegger. The actor has certainly made his desire for the role clear, declaring on social media back in April that “I’d love nothing more” than to lead the project.
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Will it happen? According to the new report, Schwarzenegger is ‘very much on the radar of the film’s producers’ although Lionsgate – the studio backing the project – is said to be a little hesitant that Schwarzenegger hasn’t yet headlined a film in a starring role. Still, those of you that have watched The White Lotus will surely agree that it’s a role that he could really excel at, should the studio give him the opportunity.
As to when this happens, that is even less clear than the film’s casting. Guadagnino has After The Hunt releasing in October, at which point it looks like he’ll be taking on Artificial, a film focusing on OpenAI. Then it’s probably Sgt Rock for DC Studios next summer, so at the very earliest, we’re probably looking at end of 2026, or more likely a 2027 shoot.
However, none of that takes into consideration just how much Guadagnino’s slate tends to fluctuate, so who knows – he could be planning to shoot American Psycho next Tuesday for all we know. When we do hear more, we’ll certainly let you know.
