 Bret Easton Ellis (qv), author of the novel on which the film is  based, revealed in an interview that director Roger Avary (qv)  asked him to play the role of Patrick Bateman in the film after  Christian Bale (qv), who portrayed Patrick in the film adaptation  of _American Psycho (2000)_ (qv), turned down Avarys offer to  return as Patrick. Ellis also turned him down, saying that he  thought it was "such a terrible and gimmicky idea". The scenes with  Patrick were eventually shot with Casper Van Dien (qv) playing the  role, but they were cut from the film.