Luca Guadagnino to direct new take on Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho

Luca Guadagnino, the Italian film-maker, will bring a new interpretation of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel American Psycho to the screen.

According to Deadline, the acclaimed director of Call Me by Your Name and Challengers will work with screenwriter Scott Z Burns to find an updated way into the material. Burns is known for his many collaborations with Steven Soderbergh including Contagion, Side Effects and The Informant.

“Luca is a brilliant artist, and the perfect visionary to create a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP,” said Lionsgate chair Adam Fogelson in a statement.

The 1991 book was an object of notoriety upon release, telling the violent story of an image-obsessed investment banker who is also a serial killer. It was adapted into a 2000 film starring Christian Bale and later a stage musical starring Matt Smith.

In 2021, it was also suggested that Lionsgate had been planning a TV series based on the novel.

Guadagnino received an Oscar nomination as producer for his 2017 gay romance Call Me by Your Name and is currently on the film festival circuit for his adaptation of William S Burroughs’ Queer starring Daniel Craig. Love-triangle drama Challengers became his biggest box office hit to date earlier this year, making $93.9m worldwide.

The prolific director recently finished production on college-set thriller After the Hunt starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, and is attached to direct an adaptation of Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s 1989 novel Separate Rooms with Josh O’Connor and Léa Seydoux.

Last year, Guadagnino had also been linked to a miniseries adaptation of Ellis’s recent novel The Shards for HBO but reportedly exited the project.