Directed by Mary Harron, the movie “American Psycho” (2000), which had Christian Bale in the lead role, portraying a serial killer, became a cult-classic over the years. Many of its famous scenes contain Phil Collins’ songs and the main character Patrick Bateman also mentions the British musician and his discography.
There is even a scene where he plays the track “Sussudio” and says: “This is ‘Sussudio’, a great, great song. A personal favorite”. But what was Phil Collins’ opinion on the use of his music in the movie?
What Phil Collins said about his music in “American Psycho”
Phil Collins was asked in an interview conducted by Action Bronson for Stereogum in 2016, if the assessment of his solo career and with Genesis was correctly mentioned in the movie American Psycho. The musician said that he actually doesn’t know if it was right and that he enjoyed the film.
“I don’t know. We were all sent the book. At the time I kind of thought, that’s just what we need, another serial killer movie. But I didn’t read the book. I was living in Switzerland, and someone said to me, ‘Have you seen American Psycho? You’ve got to go see it because they do lots of things to your music.’ So I watched it and I kind of enjoyed the film. I have to watch it again to see if I was offended or not,” Phil Collins said.
During a webchat conducted by The Guardian in 2016, Collins also praised the movie saying he was flattered by the use of his music. He also said he thought the movie was quite funny, although he wasn’t sure if that was the intention. “Flattered! I’m easily flattered. I went to see the musical. First of all I was very surprised they made one. It was ok. If I was honest, if my music is being held as representative of an era, then that’s more than I thought would happen to me when I was 13 or 14.”
“I thought the movie American Psycho was quite funny. I don’t know if it was meant to be. (But) I don’t think him being a psychopath and liking my music is linked. My music was just omnipresent in that era,” Phil Collins said.
Christian Bale said that Collins didn’t want to meet him
Although he said he was flattered by the use of his music in the movie, his daughter, the actress Lily Collins told Christian Bale he was really upset about it. The actor recalled that in an interview in 2016 with Rolling Stone. He also revealed that Phil declined the opportunity to meet him.
He said that they were both guests on a TV show in Italy in 2010 but when the actor’s publicist tried to arrange a meeting for the two he was told that Collins didn’t want to meet Bale. Years later Bale met Lily Collins and told her that story.
“Once I was on a TV show in Italy in 2010 and the only other guest was Phil Collins. One of my publicists said, ‘Do you wanna meet him?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ I’m waiting around. My publicist comes back, and I say, ‘What happened?’ He goes, ‘Oh nothing, nothing, nothing.’ I say, ‘What happened?’ And he’s like, ‘He doesn’t really want to meet you.'”
“Then I ran into his daughter, Lily, at a party about a year or two ago. She had told me how she loved ‘American Psycho’, and her dad had gotten upset about the Genesis–Phil Collins stuff in it. But he’s actually a very cool guy and, you know. I told her that her dad didn’t want to meet me and she just laughed it off,” Christian Bale said.