Austin Butler is set to play serial killer Patrick Bateman in Luca Guadagnino's adaptation of 'American Psycho'.
Austin Butler is to play Patrick Bateman in the new take on American Psycho
The 'Elvis' star will take on the lead role in the 'Challengers' filmmaker's take on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis despite rumours suggesting that Jacob Elordi was being lined up for the part.
The new picture – which has a screenplay written by Scott Z. Burns – won't be a remake of the 2000 film that starred Christian Bale as an investment banker who lives a double life as a serial killer.
Under Guadagnino's direction, the new take on the story could have a more significant erotic emphasis than the original take.
The 53-year-old filmmaker has previously dabbled in the horror genre with his movies 'Suspiria' and 'Bones and All'.
Lionsgate film chief Adam Fogelson previously described the Italian director as the "perfect visionary" to oversee the new take on 'American Psycho'.
He said in a statement: "We are thrilled to add another elite filmmaker to our upcoming slate. Luca is a brilliant artist, and the perfect visionary to create a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP."
Austin starred in the movies 'Dune: Part Two' and 'The Bikeriders' earlier this year and described the challenges of juggling his commitments to the two contrasting movies.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the 33-year-old star said: "That was the tricky part to figure out. I knew that I was going to do both films before I started 'Dune', but I had to figure out how to front-load the prep on 'Bikeriders' and start training on a motorcycle.
"So I was getting used to those old motorcycles as I was doing the knife training and stuff for 'Dune', and then I put 'Bikeriders' on hold for a bit as I got closer to 'Dune'."
Austin continued: "I got really invested in that, and then my schedule on 'Dune' allowed me to come back to the States for two weeks between blocks.
"I shot for a month, and then I had two weeks off, and then I shot ('Dune') for another month, and then I had two weeks off, I went and did motorcycle training and then I went back to 'Dune'.
"So once I got into filming ('The Bikeriders'), I felt that I had a grasp on that just to make it easier for us."
Butler played the part of Benny in 'The Bikeriders' but had little to go on as his alter ego hardly featured in the 1967 photo-book by Danny Lyon that served as the source material for the flick.
He explained: "There's all these interviews in the book with most of the other characters, but Benny was never interviewed and his face also wasn't photographed. You only ever see from behind or the top of his head as he's leaning over a pool table.
"So it was a lot of time and imagination in figuring out what makes him tick."
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