Chloë Sevigny Wants to Reprise Her ‘American Psycho’ Role With Some CGI Help

Luca Guadagnino’s remake of American Psycho seems to be the hottest project in Hollywood, despite the fact that no one’s even sure yet whether it’ll be made. There are rumors that many of Tinsel Town’s hottest young hunks are angling for the part of the murderous yuppy Patrick Bateman, and it seems everyone wants in on the film. That even includes Chloë Sevigny, who, if you recall, was already in the original 25 years ago.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Oh, she wants to do a cheeky little cameo? The arthouse equivalent of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in the Wicked movie?” No, no. Sevigny would like to play Bateman’s secretary Jean, the same part she played 25 years ago in Mary Harron’s original. If they have to use some of that reverse-aging CGI tech to do it, she’s fine with that.

“I pitched to [Guadagnino] that I should play Jean again, and that they do reverse-aging on me,” she told IndieWire. “I thought that would be something that he would be into, conceptually having the same actress play the same part. But I don’t know. He said he was going to think of something else for me.”

Sevigny is known for both a dry sense of humor and a fearlessness when it comes to taking part in cinematic experimentation.

Sevigny’s worked with Guadagnino several times before. She’s appeared in his series We Are Who We Are and Bones and All, and will costar later in the year in his upcoming film After the Hunt.

Guadagnino, for his part, has been open to some subversive casting fun before. While it’s widely accepted that Tilda Swinton played a second role of Dr. Jozef Klemperer, an elderly male psychotherapist, in Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of Suspiria, officially that role is credited to Lutz Ebersdorf. At one point, Swinton even read an open letter from “Ebersdorf” asking for privacy. Later, she admitted that she was also Ebeserdorf and did it all for the “sheer sake of fun.” In yet another meta-twist, the role of Klemperer’s estranged wife was played by Jessica Harper, who had starred in the original 1977 version of Suspiria. In other words, Luca’s down to clown with a casting twist.

Though it was only a minor hit upon release, the 2000 version of American Psycho has gained a cult following. Alongside Sevigny, several members of its cast are still major Hollywood players. Christian Bale played the tighty-whities wearing protagonist, with Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Josh Lucas, and Samantha Mathis filling out the cast.

For her part, Sevigny says she’s not even sure when Guadagnino is going to make the film. During a recent appearance, he confirmed that he’s had “conversations with very exciting performers to play the leads.”

Austin Butler was originally rumored to step into Bateman’s briefs for the remake, but Patrick Schwarzenegger is openly lobbying for the role after his triumph in The White Lotus. Guadagnino also has previous experience with some of Hollywood’s hottest young stars, including Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Josh O’Connor, Taylour Paige, Dakota Johnson, and Ayo Edebiri.