A Starship Troopers Star Once Played American Psycho's Patrick Bateman (But We Never Got To See It)
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As far as iconic cinematic characters from the early 2000s go, Patrick Bateman from "American Psycho" is certainly up there. The film was adapted from the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name and became an early hit for Lionsgate. Christian Bale portrayed Patrick Bateman with great dedication, and it greatly helped his career. What lovers of the film and character may not know is that another actor played the role just two years later.
Casper Van Dien, known best as Johnny Rico from "Starship Troopers," got to put his stamp on Patrick Bateman in director Roger Avary's "The Rules of Attraction" in 2002, a movie also based on an Ellis novel. So, why is it that so many people are unaware of this other Bateman portrayal? That probably has more than a little something to do with the fact that Van Dien's scenes were cut from the film.
For those who haven't seen it, "The Rules of Attraction" centers around Patrick Bateman's younger brother Sean (James Van Der Beek), focusing on three college students entangled in a surreal romantic triangle, with their bizarre mating rituals mixing sex, drugs, music, and mayhem. The novel was published in 1987, a full four years before "American Psycho" hit shelves in 1991. It served as Bateman's first appearance in any media.
In a November 2024 interview with People, Van Dien spoke about his turn as Bateman in the film, which equated to two scenes. "I had a lot of fun doing those two scenes," the actor said at the time. The first scene sees Patrick talking to Sean on the phone and has since made its way online. The second scene, however, was a bit more salacious.
"I'm on the phone with him too," Van Dien explained. That's when things change. It is said to start with a close-up of Patrick before it "pulls back [to reveal] a severed head in a plastic bag." That's more in line with the deranged, methodical, Wall Street serial killer audiences are familiar with.
Why were Patrick Bateman's scenes cut from The Rules of Attraction?
"Then, I get up and I dance with it in a leopard Speedo G-string with blood everywhere," the actor further explained. "[It] was really disturbing, and it was a very lifelike head that they had. It was a woman's head. So it was very disturbing."
Van Dien further described them as "pretty graphic scenes." That's precisely why they were cut from the final film. To secure an R rating rather than a dreaded NC-17 rating, Avary had to make some sacrifices. That included axing Patrick Bateman from the film entirely. That was no easy ask, as the director later told Van Dien that the one with the severed hand was his favorite in the entire movie. As the actor explained:
"Roger literally told me, he goes, 'That's my favorite scene from the movie.' And I go, 'I don't believe you. You cut it out.' He goes, 'No, I didn't want to. For rating-wise, I had to.'"
There are rumors that Lionsgate wanted Bale to reprise his role in the film, but those rumors have never been confirmed. "If it had been Christian Bale, they probably wouldn't have cut it out," Van Dien quipped. The actor also addressed what it was like getting to put his stamp on the character, even though that performance never saw the light of day.
"To be able to play something like that — and also after it had been played so well so well by Bale himself — you're like, 'Ooh, that's big shoes to fill.' But I went for it and I did it."
Meanwhile, Luca Guadagnino ("Challengers," "Suspiria") is set to direct a remake of "American Psycho," with Austin Butler ("Dune: Part Two," "Elvis") set to play Patrick Bateman. Who knows? Maybe one day Avary will get to release a cut of the movie with Van Dien's scenes intact. Or, at the very least, we'll get a Blu-ray/4K release with the full deleted scenes in question. For now, we can only imagine the chaos as described by Van Dien.
You can grab "The Rules of Attraction" on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.