Following his breakout performance in Luca Guadagnino‘s Queer (2024), Drew Starkey is staying quiet about whether they’re teaming up again.
Amid speculation that Starkey is in the mix for the role of Patrick Bateman in the Oscar-nominated director’s highly-anticipated adaptation of the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis book American Psycho, the actor offered a “no comment” but teased that he’s read the script.
“The script is amazing, though,” Starkey told GQ before realizing he’s already said too much. “Fuck! I’ve read the script, but Luca’s my friend. I think I’ve read all of his scripts.”
After Deadline exclusively announced Guadagnino and writer Scott Z. Burns’ adaptation of the novel back in 2024, Ellis said in February that multiple high-profile actors “have turned it down,” adding that Burns had since completed a new draft after the unnamed talent passed on the previous version.
Ellis teased that the film will be “completely different” from Mary Harron’s 2000 adaptation of American Psycho, which starred Christian Bale as homicidal investment banker Patrick Bateman, the literary character that Ellis created as a satirical take on masculinity. The Harron-helmed adaptation also starred Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe and more.
Christian Bale in ‘American Psycho’ (2000)
The upcoming Lionsgate film will be produced by Frenesy Films, and executive produced by Sam Pressman, the son of Edward R. Pressman, producer of 2002 original movie, through his company Pressman Film.
With American Psycho in the works, Ellis’ 2023 novel The Shards is currently getting the Ryan Murphy treatment with a series adaptation, new episodes of which airing Thursdays at 9pm ET on FX and Hulu.
