Chloë Sevigny Felt 'Really Intimidated' by Christian Bale on “American Psycho ”Set: His 'Process' Was 'Challenging'

The Oscar-nominted actress played the secretary to Bale's serial killer character Patrick Bateman

Chloë Sevigny is breaking down the "really challenging dynamic" of filming American Psycho with Christian Bale.

Speaking with Josh Lucas who also appeared with her in the 2000 film — in which she played Jean, the secretary of Bale's Patrick Bateman — the 49-year-old Academy Award nominee recalled being "really intimidated" by Bale's creative process during production.

"I was trying to respect his process, which I found challenging because I’m very gregarious and silly and goofy, unbeknownst to the general public. When people take themselves so seriously, I kind of shut down, even though I take my work very seriously and I love acting and whatnot," she said, per Vanity Fair.

"I was really intimidated by his process and intimidated by him, and I wanted a little more generosity to make myself feel more at ease, which is my own ego."

Related: Christian Bale's American Psycho Costars Initially Thought His Acting 'Was Terrible' While Filming

Adding that she was confused as to why Bale wasn't "being social" during shooting, Sevigny shared that, at the time, she "wasn’t even that aware of what the Method [acting] thing was."

"I never had any formal training; I think I was just kind of 'fake it until you make it.' But the whole Method thing, I was like, What even is this approach? It was very intimidating," she shared.

Lucas then made the distinction between "bad Method actors" and Bale, who he revealed was "not paying attention to f---ing anything else but what he’s doing."

"I have nothing but admiration for that, because a lot of Method actors are actually kind of distracting with the fact that their process is more important than anything or anybody else," Lucas said, to which Sevigny replied that Bale's approach was "surprising" given his background as a child actor.

"It’s not like he studied in college and then became this Method-y, Brando-y kind of thing," she said. "He found this journey from being a child actor to then an adult actor that I think is a really interesting trajectory, and I’m curious about that."

Related: Chloë Sevigny Shares How Her High School Yearbook Photo Inspired a Skateboard: ‘It’s Sold Out’

As previously reported, the 52-year-old Lucas — who played Craig McDermott in the film — also shared during the discussion that he initially thought Bale was "terrible" when they filmed the movie.

Now, however, he realizes he was working with "an actor who was at such a completely different level already, and that he was capable of having these crazy layers going on in what he was doing."

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Not every actor is a fan of Method acting — a process in which creatives stay in character around filming, oftentimes even when the cameras are off. Jennifer Lawrence revealed during a 2023 appearance on Hot Ones that she herself "would be nervous" to work with someone who goes that route.

"Because I would have no idea how to talk to them, because like, do I have to be in character? That would just make me nervous," she said. "But I don't know, I haven't seen another process that I've been curious about because you don't know about them all the time."

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