Some might point out that while O’Connor has the height, he also has protruding ears and a mop of curly hair, which he’s put to good use in comic roles, as in 2020’s Emma. where he played the doofy Reverend Mr. Elton. Challengers proved that O’Connor’s unique looks do not prevent him from being an attractive leading man, which adds a compelling wrinkle to a character as concerned with appearances as Patrick Bateman. O’Connor could add an insecurity to Bateman that drives his murderous impulses, something consistent with the character that Ellis wrote.
Tom Holland
Yes, Tom Holland plays Peter Parker as a big ol’ sweetie-pie. But look at Cherry, The Crowded Room, and The Devil All the Time. Whenever he gets out of his blue and red tights, Holland wants to play a darker role so badly that he’s willing to do terrible, terrible projects, such as Cherry, The Crowded Room, and The Devil All the Time.
Challengers star Zendaya must have certainly mentioned her frequent collaborator Holland to Guadagnino, and Patrick Bateman is very much the type of role he’s looking for. Famously, Bale took inspiration from Tom Cruise to play Bateman’s mixture of enthusiasm and dead eyes, but Holland could put a softer spin on Patrick’s obsessions, making the horror all the more striking.
Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Okay, we need to acknowledge that Patrick Bateman is a yuppie whose privilege as a straight white male covers up any crimes that may or may not have happened. Bateman’s race and (especially) his gender and sexuality are a big part of Harron’s film and a subtextual part of Ellis’s novel. All of this is a long way to say that casting a non-white actor in the part closes off some aspects of the source material’s critique.
But at the same time, it opens the door for looking at the intersection of class and patriarchy, even with a man of a different race. And if you’re looking for a young male actor, it’s hard to do better than Kelvin Harrison Jr., who played B.B. King alongside Butler in Elvis, but also put in varied performances in Luce, Cyrano, and Waves (alongside Bones and All star Taylor Russell). Harrison would be the perfect actor for a Bateman that looks at other parts of Ellis’s novel.
Tilda Swinton
You laugh, but Tilda Swinton has been Guadagnino’s most frequent collaborator. And in Suspiria, she played no fewer than three different characters, one of them an elderly man. If anyone could pull it off, it’s Swinton. And don’t tell me you wouldn’t watch it.
