10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 21, 2000
eveningsout
Actor got buffed and beautiful to play a killer
by Mark J. Huisman
"Like most people, I had the wrong idea about American Psycho,” says actor Christian Bale. "I hadn't read the book, but I thought that it was all about this extreme violence. But when I read the script, I realized it's really an absurdly exaggerated story about how much a group of extremely privileged young guys can get away with."
Those rampantly indulgent Wall Street hot shots are the center of Bret Easton Ellis' 1991
Guin Turner
novel, which became infamous almost overnight, in no small part because its protagonist, the handsome Patrick Bateman, has a nasty little homicide habit. Playing Bateman in the long-awaited film version of the novel, Bale turns in what is justly being called a starmaking performance.
Carefully groomed and clad in gray slacks and a white T-shirt under a navy sweater that softens his piercing dark eyes, Bale enters a hotel suite off New York's Central Park with such charm and grace that it's hard to tell whether or not Bateman might be lurking under the surface.
But Bale's angular, slipped British accent immediately dispels any imagined vestige of Bateman's Ivy League mannerisms.
"Bateman always cuts a slightly ridiculous
Q. Afraid of the Dentist? A. (216)226-3800 It's normal!! We can help! We're absolutely dedicated to providing your dental care as comfortably as is modernly possible. We welcome cowards.
Q. Afraid of the Cost?
A. (216)226-3800 Our various payment options take the fear out of dental expense. We welcome most insurances and gladly accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover. We also have interest-free financing packages available.
Q. Afraid to take the Time? A. (216)226-3800 Our early morning, evening and Saturday office hours will take the worry out of interfering with your busy schedule.
COMFORT DENTAL
GROUP
Lower Than Average Fees!
David M. Raiffe, DDS & Associates (216)226-3800
15901 Hilliard Rd. Lakewood, Ohio (Comer of Hilliard & Madison)
Exam, Cavity-Detecting, X-rays, and
Cosmetic Consultation
$5
Reg. $68.00
(cannot be combined with other offers)
figure," Bale continues. "You can't know him because he's a performer, twenty-four hours a day. And he's so physically stunning and so self-aware that he completely realizes the effect he's having on people. I can't even tell you why he does what he does. He just does it."
To prepare for the role, Bale underwent a rigorous process of selftransformation, a skill for which he has long been known among directors.
Christian Bale
Viewers might recognize Bale from films like Swingers, Henry V, The Age of Innocence or Todd Haynes' recent Velvet Goldmine (in which Bale played a gay journalist who remembers an adolescent crush on a glam rocker). But those same viewers will certainly not recognize the granite-solid body that, in many scenes, is Bale's only costume.
"The film is full of these hugely reverential shots of Christian naked,” says lesbian actress and screenwriter Guin Turner (Go Fish; Chasing Amy), who co-wrote the screenplay with director Mary Harron. "There are completely gratuitous shots of his naked, wet, soapy ass,' Turner laughs. "When do you see that, even in gay movies? Ass shots where you actually like the ass? I have gay friends who see this film and say: More Christian Bale."
""
"It was very difficult to sort of make myself addicted to working out," Bale says, his cheeks flushing at Turner's assessment. "I kept asking myself: Why, why, why am I doing this, spending every second of my free time in a gym? I felt like one of those horrible people with no social skills or day job. But I had to employ the same behavior as Bateman, adopt his vanities and his obsessions."
"Cut the fat and sugar, take all these supplements," Bale continues. "Protein, protein, protein. Endless, endless glasses of wheat grass
REAL
ESSIVE
P
URBAN
INC.
ESTATE, 216-619-9696
OPEN 408 W St.Clair Ave. M-W-F 12-2pm, T & Th 5-7pm Sun 1-4pm Closed Easter Sunday 4/23 Featured Unit: #203 $149,900 Unique 2 BR 2 BA townhouse unit with original wood beamed ceiling, masonry walls for possible exposed brick and roof rights for potential deck or skylight. Tax abatement & special financing make the Grand Arcade the smart alternative to renting!
For all available units:
Unit price range:$69,900-362,500. www.thegrandarcade.com
NEW! CLEVELAND EAST: $93,900 Storefront & former deli with 2 efficiencies and 12-BR apt. Equip. includes 2 freezers, 2 coolers, 2 deep fryers, meat slicer etc. Much potentail! NEW! CLIFTON-BALTIC: $49,500 Clean & freshly painted 1 BR condo w/new Berber carpet all appl. including in-suite laundry and low maint. fee. Great alternative to paying rent!
NEW! TREMONT: $46,500 2 BR cottage with '98 roof, '99 siding & hot water tank and good views.
NEW! CLEVELAND WEST: $85,000 Awesome urban retreat. Features 2-3 BRs, all new mechanicals, Ig kit. with custom cabinets, custom built-ins, very open & airy LR in former storefront, colorful mod bath, upper & lower decks, glass enclosed 3 season room, garage with heated work shop and possible in-law suite. Must see!
NEW! SHAKER HEIGHTS: $119,500 Cute & Clean 3 BR Col.w/ hardwood floors, wood burning FP, 1⁄2 bath & rec room in basement, freshly painted nice sized rooms and great yard for the gardener. Seller is very motivated!
NEW! NORTH COLLINWOOD: $49,900 Cozy 3 BR Euclid Beach area bungalow with newer furnace, kit., bath, front porch and exterior paint.
NEW! ARCHWOOD DENISON: $54,900 3 BR near Brookside Park with hardwood floors, new roof & gutters, new drywall work and some newer windows.
NEW! OHIO CITY: $98.900 1,200 sqft condo at Grove Ct. with 2-story LR, Ig master suite/dressing area, 1 1⁄2 BAs, 2 terraces & 2 parking spaces.
NEW! TWINSBURG: $67,000 2 BR ranch with newer roof, windows, fumace and hot water tank. Includes all appliances and 2 adjacent parcels
juice." He wrinkles his nose and frowns. "Bicep curls, lat pulls, bench presses. Squats, squats, squats, squats, squats, squats, squats."
Ironically, the moment for which the film has received the most buzz-a sex scene in which Bateman stares at his bulging muscles in a floor-length mirror-was a complete afterthought wholly derived from Bale's efforts at creating all those bulges and curves.
He and Harron could not figure out how to choreograph one particular ménage à trois, so the director simply wheeled over the mirror and told Bale to play to his reflection as a fourth partner. So Bateman flexes his biceps and smiles slyly at his own physique with almost arrogant pride, an absorbingly erotic touch that underscores his love of his own body and his near complete detachment from human life.
The Motion Picture Association of America, however, didn't see things the same way, and slapped American Psycho with the dreaded NC-17 rating. (During the past year, Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry and Jamie Babbit's upcoming summer release But I'm Not a Cheerleader have also been in the NC-17 club.)
While minor in reality, Harron's R-rating compromise is sure to disappoint gay viewers: She cut twenty seconds of Bale staring at that rippling reflection. American Psycho will be released uncut outside the United States, including in Canada and Europe.
"Little did I know!" laughs Harron, an Oxford-educated Canadian who had a long
Films
Continued from page 9
Beefcake
Directed by Thom Fitzgerald Saturday, April 29, 7 pm
Long before Marky Mark and Antonio Sabato, Jr. sported their packages in Calvin Klein on billboards all across the country, beefcake photography was paving the road for our more voyeuristic and lusty sides.
Beefcake tells the story of Bob Mizer, one of the pioneers of male physique photography, a man ahead of his time. Mizer was punished for publishing obscenity in the era in which McCarthyism ruled and destroyed lives deemed outside of the American dream.
Written by Thom Fitzgerald, this is a unique film that never takes itself too seriously, and yet tells a good story. The film uses fiction and documentary to take us behind the gates of Mizer's studios, where young men romped naked while creating lustful fantasies for hundreds of thousands of
men.
The film also features Joe D'Allesandro, one of Mizer's earliest models (also a Warhol film star) who has become a legendary boytoy fantasy in certain gay subcultures. It is interesting that while the 1950s are seen as staid and buttoned down, it was here that the seed of the sexual revolution were truly being sown.
Head On
Directed by Ana Kokkino Saturday, April 29,9 pm
The last film of the festival has been receiving rave reviews for its lead performer
career as a rock journalist before making her directing debut with I Shot Andy Warhol.
"I think censor boards censor not what is erotic or violent but what is disturbing to them," Harron explains. “A heterosexual man enjoying his own body, especially in the presence of two women who he is completely ignoring, has disturbing connotations."
Lewis Carruthers would not have been remotely disturbed had he been Bateman's fourth. A closeted bon vivant with a secret crush, Lewis is not only a member of Patrick's inner circle, but he is also engaged to a woman with whom he could not be less in love. And she cannot remotely discern the importance of the fact that Lewis is more obsessed with suit fabrics, pocket squares and overnight bags than he is with her.
One of the film's most brilliant scenes occurs when Lewis reveals new business cards far nicer than anyone else's. Enraged at this gesture of superiority, Patrick follows him into a bathroom with only one thing on his mind.
Until recently, Hollywood tradition dictated that a homosexual who made a romantic advance toward a heterosexual had to be punished with death. But Lewis emerges completely unscathed precisely because he makes a pass at Bateman.
According to Bale, actor Matt Ross, who plays Lewis with a combination of insouciant panache and utter naiveté, was a courier of comic relief.
"In one take, Matt started singing from Cats as he's peeing at the urinal," Bale recalls. “I understand that Cats is actually closing, so having that in the film would have been screamingly funny. There were very few times I got thrown out of character, but they were always Matt's fault."
Turner says another Ross ad-lib has become a part of her regular routine with friends. "Lewis has no idea what Patrick's real intentions are," Turner says.
"So the entire time, he's thinking, 'Patrick wants me! Finally! Patrick wants me!' And after everything is over-although everything could have gone much differently-Lewis turns to Patrick and without saying a word mouths, 'I'll call you.' I do that with all my friends now: 'I'll call you'."
Alex Dimitriades, who plays Ari. Dimitriades' performance has deservedly won awards and rave reviews at film festivals all across the globe.
Ari is running from his oppressive parents who pester him to study, stay home, marry and get a job. He lies to them, and his defiance leads him into one long night of dancing, sex and drugs as he runs head-on into his own kind of freedom.
This Australian film is definitely a notch in the recent renaissance of films from Down Under which through the 1990s have been making an impact all over the world.
Ultimately, filmmaker Ana Kokkino's camera and Dimitriades' unaffected performance will make you fall in love with this protagonist and all the confusion that comes with being young, gay and in search of one's identity.
Dimitriades, an Australian soap opera hunk, is truly amazing. His is one of the most natural and honest performances to grace the screen in recent memory. As Ari, Dimitriades taps into a large range of emotions, exposing himself in every way possible, from deep rage and raw, unbridled sexuality to the unmitigated vulnerability that is always bubbling to the surface of his smoldering and enigmatic looks.
The film, in telling the story of Greek immigrants in Australia, takes us into a world filled with machismo, the blending of old ways with new ones, and everyone's struggle to belong.
All the films will be presented in the FilmVideo Theatre at the Wexner Center. Ticket prices are $5 for the general public, $4 for Wexner Center members and students. Ticket packets for any five films are $15. For more information, call the box office at 614292-3535.