Donald Kimball

Detective Donald Kimball is the main antagonist of Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 controversial novel American Psycho and its film and stage adaptations, as well as a minor character in the novel Lunar Park.
He is a NYPD detective who investigated the mysterious disappearance of Paul Owen, often coming over to Bateman to question him about the disappearance. Each time they interact, Donald always seems to buy Bateman's rather transparent lies about the case, much to his annoyance.
He was portrayed by Willem Dafoe in the 2000 movie adaptation. In the 2015 New York musical, he was portrayed by Jeb Brown.
==Appearance==
In the novel, Detective Kimball is described as being similar in appearance to Bateman, being roughly the same age as he is and dressing in a similar Armani suit. Interestingly, he is also the only character in the novel where such a comparison is made.
In the movie, however, Kimball appears to be a middle-aged man.
==Personality==
Though Kimball ultimately has good intentions in mind, wanting to bring justice for Owen's disappearance, he also appears to be somewhat incompetent at his position, deeming Bateman innocent of all charges and that Owen's disappearance was part of a larger misunderstanding, even though Bateman deems his own lies on the matter somewhat incriminating.
On the other hand, there is a possibility that Kimball may have actually known of Bateman's crimes, and instead wanted to toy with him to get the truth out of him, for example, giving an accusatory tone towards Bateman when he lies about not being a fan of Huey Lewis. In the movie, Kimball also just so happened to have brought the exact album that Bateman played while killing Paul.
==Biography==
===Novel===
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===Movie===
In the movie, after Patrick's murder of Paul Allen, Donald Kimball comes into his office to question him about the disappearance.
==Trivia==
*It is reported that the director of the 2000 movie, Mary Haffon, had Dafoe act out his scenes on three separate takes: one where Kimball doesn't suspect Bateman at all, one where he's somewhat suspiscious of him, and one where he knows that he killed Paul Allen. These takes were then edited together to create the scenes involving him in the final movie. This was allgedly done in order to keep it ambiguous as to what Kimball actually thinks of Bateman as he is interacting with him.
**When this had been revealed to public audiences, a popular meme surrounding the character was created. The meme gives over-the-top scenarios that were also created in three takes to give off a similar effect.
*Due to the ambiguous nature surrounding his relationship with Bateman, it is often theorizied by fans that Kimball might actually be a villainous character, one that is just as psychotic, if not more so, than Bateman himself. This is due to how Bateman appears to be the only person in the yuppie culture that Kimball talks to reguarly, how he seems to quickly read many of his social cues, and how he ultimately deems Bateman innocent of his crimes, despite all evidence pointing to him being guilty.
**In a deleted scene in the 2000 film, Kimball meets with Bateman in a nightclub he attends regularly. There he talks about criminals being at their most vulnerable in places such as nightclubs, being a place where they talk about their crimes. If the scene was left in the movie, this would have provided further evidence to this sentiment, due to Kimball appearing to want to see Bateman's reaction.
Category:Book Heroes
Category:Live Action Heroes
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Horror Heroes
Category:Thriller Heroes
Category:Comedy Heroes
Category:Controversial
Category:Incompetent
Category:Officials
Category:Archenemy
Category:Male
Category:Non-Action
Category:Friend of a Villain
Category:Lawful Good
Category:Antagonists
Category:Mysterious
Category:Charismatic
Category:Sophisticated
Category:Protectors of Innocence