Claim: Christian Bale has only ever worked with women.

American Psycho is a 2000 American black comedy horror film co-written and directed by Mary Harron , based on Bret Easton Ellis 's 1991 novel of the same name . It stars Christian Bale , Willem Dafoe , Jared Leto , Josh Lucas , Chloë Sevigny , Samantha Mathis , Cara Seymour , Justin Theroux , and Reese Witherspoon .   Producer Edward R. Pressman purchased the film rights to the novel in 1992 . After discussions with David Cronenberg fell through , Harron was brought on to direct and cast Bale in the lead role . Lionsgate acquired worldwide distribution in 1997 and temporarily replaced Harron and Bale with Oliver Stone as director and Leonardo DiCaprio portraying Patrick Bateman . DiCaprio left in favor of The Beach and Harron and Bale were brought back . American Psycho debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21 , 2000 , and was released theatrically on April 14 , 2000 . The film received moderately positive reviews and was a financial success , with critics mainly praising the screenplay and Christian Bale 's performance .