Patrick Bateman

Patrick Bateman is a fictional character, the protagonist of the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. Bateman works at the Wall Street firm of Pierce & Pierce (also Sherman McCoy's firm in Bonfire of the Vanities) and lives on the Upper West Side in the American Gardens Building (where Tom Cruise also lives). At first appearance, Bateman is a handsome, well-groomed, and intelligent young man. However, he is also a serial killer who murders a variety of people, from a colleague to a pair of prostitutes. His methods of killing are described in graphic detail in the novel.

Bateman comes from a wealthy family. His parents have a home on Long Island, and he mentions a summer home in Newport, RI. His Mother now resides at a sanitarium. His father grew up on an estate in Connecticut, and now owns an apartment in a New York Hotel. His younger brother is Sean, who attended Camden College. He graduated from Harvard in 1984.

When not nightclubbing or eating at trendy restaurants, Bateman watches The Patty Winters Show or listens to music, usually pop and pop-rock. His favorite musical group is Talking Heads, but Bateman discusses at length Genesis, Huey Lewis & the News, and Whitney Houston. He also listens to jazz (Dizzy Gillespie and Bix Beiderbecke) but loathes rap.

Bateman made his first appearance in Ellis's episodic 1987 novel The Rules of Attraction. No indication that he is a killer is given. Bateman also appears in Ellis's 1998 novel Glamorama.

Bateman in Film

The best-known portrayal of Bateman is Christian Bale's in Mary Harron's 2000 film adaptation. However, Bateman was also portrayed by Dechen Thurman (brother of Uma) in the 2000 documentary This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis. In the 2002 movie adaptation of The Rules of Attraction, James Van Der Beek played Sean Bateman, Patrick's brother. Michael Kremko played Bateman in the opening scene of American Psycho 2: All American Girl, the 2002 direct-to-video sequel of American Psycho. In AP2, Bateman was promptly killed by the young girl who witnessed his murder of her babysitter, who took her along to his apartment in an attempt to apprehend him.

Chronology of Bateman's Life

ca. 1962: Patrick Bateman born (deduced from a passage in American Psycho where Patrick tells the detective Donald Kimball that he and Paul Owen were both seven in 1969).

1980: Patrick graduated from Exeter Preparatory school.

1984: Patrick graduated from Harvard University.

1986: Patrick graduated from Harvard Business School.

From the time of his graduation, through the end of American Psycho, Patrick works at Pierce & Pierce.

ca. 1996: Bateman shows up at Victor's club in Glamorama.

ca. 1996: Bateman is killed (only in American Psycho 2), deduced from the following. The movie is set in the present (i.e., 2001/2002) and has as its protagonist an eighteen-year-old student whose killing of Bateman when she was twelve forever changes her life. This may not be considered canon as it was not written by Ellis.

2000: E-mails