8 Little Known Tics In Christian Bale's Performance That Made American Psycho's Patrick Bateman Epic
3. Face Mask Peeling Scene Was Done In One Take
Stepping into the all-round technical brilliance of Bale when it came to his time in the Bateman saddle now, here we have a moment which had the potential to be one of the most tedious and maddening of the entire shoot.
In another beat which symbolises the fact that Bateman is wearing a mask of sorts when it comes to his time spent in public, the character is seen peeling off a facial mask as part of his aforementioned daily morning routine. Yet, anyone who has ever had the pleasure of trying to peel one of these suckers off will tell you just how difficult it is to get the whole thing removed in one go.
Director Mary Harron was reportedly anxious that this would prove to be an annoying obstacle and the mask would continually rip apart when it came time to shoot the moment. But she wasn't counting on Bale being able to delicately remove the mask in one painfully smooth motion on the first take. Ever the pro, he did just that and another iconic visual was swiftly laced into the feature.