Mary Harron thinks the American Psycho musical gave Patrick Bateman too much of a conscience

To Mary Harron, the American Psycho musical failed because it gave Patrick Bateman a bit too much heart.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  April 14, 2025 | 8:08pm
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Mary Harron thinks the American Psycho musical gave Patrick Bateman too much of a conscience
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Twenty-five years after the release of American Psycho, we’re still experiencing Patrick Bate-mania. With Luca Guadagigno gearing for a new version of Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial, misunderstood, and lauded epic, Bateman’s Psycho circus isn’t packing it in any time soon. It’s not even the second bite at the apple. In addition to Mary Harron’s original, there have been attempts to continue the story. There was the Mila Kunis-led sequel, American Psycho II: All American Girl, promises of a TV series (which we imagine would look a lot like You), a comic book sequel, and, of course, the stage musical with music and lyrics by Duncan Shiek.

Even though it was a failure, the musical is among the most interesting interpretations of Ellis’ source material. Opening on the West End in 2013 with Matt Smith as Bateman, the American Psycho musical crossed the pond to Broadway in 2016 and closed after 27 previews and 54 performances. To director Mary Harron, who helmed the 2000 adaptation, it was doomed from the start. Her contention is simple: The thing should’ve been a jukebox musical.

“The sets were amazing, influenced by the movie,” Harron told Letterboxd. “I’m a big fan of Duncan Sheik, but I would have used the pop songs of the time. If you have the actor sing original songs, you’re trying to express their inner life in a way. I don’t think that works here because what is their inner life?” By going into Batman’s “inner life” through song, the work tries to “give it a bit of heart” and “Bateman a bit of conscience.” She puts it bluntly in the interview: “I wanted American Psycho to be heartless.”

Harron doesn’t hate the idea of a Psycho musical. But it should reflect Bateman’s musical snobbiness, an essential part of the character. Bateman’s criticism of Phil Collins was a point of relation for Harron, a former music critic who was “always very amused by the music scenes.”

“It popped into my head that if we turn them into monologues, and he did the first one just before he killed someone,” she continued. “Then every time he starts to talk about music, you will be scared and think that he’s about to kill someone.”

Now, imagine that after his monologue, Bateman gleefully dismembered Paul Allen while singing “Sussido.”

 
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