In an interview with Letterboxd Journal to mark the 25th anniversary of American Psycho, director Mary Harron said she found it extremely puzzling that Wall Street bros idolise Patrick Bateman, the psychopathic New York investment banker and serial killer played by Christian Bale.

In recent years, self-improvement for men (a core part of the manosphere) has become a major topic of discussion, particularly due to the rise of viral content on TikTok. As Dazed contributing editor, Günseli Yalcinkaya wrote in her article “Rise and Grind: How ‘Sigma Males’ Are Upturning the Internet”, the trend has introduced a new archetype: “sigma male, the latest socio-sexual identity to take over the internet. The nebulous term is meant to describe someone who’s the paragon of masculinity: having broken the binaries of the Chad alpha and Virgin beta, he is the wolf without a pack, operating outside of social systems and hierarchies.”

This wave of hyper-masculine content – encouraging followers to pursue prosperity, self-growth and financial freedom through strict lifestyle routines that emphasise self-discipline and individual empowerment (aka “grindset”) – has adopted Bateman as a kind of poster boy. Much of this content is paired with images of him as the ultimate ‘sigma man’: successful, attractive, and ruthlessly self-sufficient.

“I’m always so mystified by it,” Harron told Letterboxd Journal. “I don’t think that [co-writer Guinevere Turner] and I ever expected it to be embraced by Wall Street bros at all. That was not our intention. So, did we fail? I’m not sure why [it happened] because Christian’s very clearly making fun of them… But, people read the Bible and decide that they should go and kill a lot of people. People read The Catcher in the Rye and decide to shoot the president.”

The adoption of Bateman as a ‘sigma’ icon is baffling to Harron, particularly given that she’s always viewed American Psycho as a “gay man’s satire on masculinity”. However, she can somewhat understand its appeal: “There’s [Bateman] being handsome and wearing good suits and having money and power. But at the same time, he’s played as somebody dorky and ridiculous. When he’s in a nightclub, and he’s trying to speak to somebody about hip hop – it’s so embarrassing when he’s trying to be cool.”

Harron went on to describe American Psycho as being “about a predatory society” – a critique that, in her view, hits even harder today. “The rich are much richer, the poor are poorer,” she said. “I would never have imagined that there would be a celebration of racism and white supremacy, which is basically what we have in the White House. I would never have imagined that we would live through that.”

Now, Bateman is returning to the big screen. A new adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho is currently in development, directed by Challengers filmmaker Luca Guadagnino and written by Scott Z Burns. Austin Butler has been rumoured to take on the role of Bateman, although no official casting has been confirmed.