A counter rumor now claims that Lionsgate and director Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho remake won’t gender swap Patrick Bateman.
On October 24th, The Sun reported that Margot Robbie was in discussions to star in the film and she would play a gender-swapped version of Bateman. A source allegedly told the outlet, “A remake of American Psycho is in the works and Margot is in the frame to play a female version of Patrick Bateman.”
“Brett’s novel and the film were so controversial and the people working on the remake wanted to twist the narrative by having a female actress take on the lead of Bateman,” the source added. “There was a huge backlash about misogyny when the novel came out back in the Nineties.”
“And by having a female killer, it puts a different spin on the crimes,” the source continued. “Margot’s career is on fire at the moment. Taking on a role this gritty will really show what a sensational actress she is.”
Finally, the source concluded, “The finer details are still being ironed out but everyone that is involved in the process so far have said they are so excited to get it announced and start work.”
Now, a report from Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman claims Bateman will not be gender-swapped. He wrote, “We’re told by sources close to the project that Luca Guadagnino‘s American Psycho reinterpretation won’t be gender-swapped.”
An American Psycho remake was reported to be in the works back in October 2024. Variety revealed that Luca Guadagnino was in talks to direct the Lionsgate developed film based on a script by Scott Z. Burns.
Lionsgate said in a statement, “We are thrilled to add another elite filmmaker to our upcoming slate. Luca is a brilliant artist, and the perfect visionary to create a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP.”
In December 2024, Harpers Bazaar reported that Austin Butler would play the film’s main character of Patrick Bateman.
In April 2025, Guadagnino appeared at CinemaCon to tease the adaptation. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, he said, “We are really working hard to bring to the screen a new adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, a book that I deeply love that is something that influenced me so much.”
He went on to confirm that Burns was indeed writing the script and commented, “He’s doing an incredible job. The script is coming out very handsomely.”
As for the film’s casting, he said that he was in “conversation with very exciting performers to play the leads.”
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What will a remake give us that we didn't already get from the original? Why not pick one of the trillion other books that haven't been made into movies?
Has the business finally learned the lesson that their customer base is done with the BS Boss Babe garbage? One can only hope and pray this is true.
Even though they are claiming there will be no gender swap I will believe it only after the first trailer drops and they can no longer hide it if they are going top do a gender swap. I hope they don't do it but I have a bad feeling that the reason anything was released about there not being a gender swap is more about pro-active damage control then truth. Even though they know the audience has had it with the boss babe crap the people running things are still the same woke feminist types who believe in the message being what is most important. They could be lying about this simply to keep the larger public from talking negatively about it. I can easily see them putting out this "We're not gender swapping the Bateman character" with every intention of doing a swap but wanting to keep that on the down low for as long as possible. I don't know where Margot Robbie is at with all this gender/race swapping non-sense that Hollywood has been doing but if those behind the film have any concerns that she might back out if there's a lot of negative feedback form the public about her playing the role then I can see them lying to us about the swap just so Margot Robbie isn't scared away from doing the film. If they do a swap and Margot Robbie plays the role of Bateman she will be on the receiving end of the publics negative feedback to that swap and that maybe something Robbie would rather not have to deal with.