With Luca Guadagnino set to direct a new take on Bret Easton Ellis’s novel, speculation abounds on who should play the vain serial killer

Earlier this week it was announced that Luca Guadagnino was in final negotiations to direct a new adaptation of American Psycho, instantly igniting an online discourse that refused to die down.

Inevitably, the bulk of the discourse was overwhelmingly negative. Some corners of the internet were upset that Guadagnino had the opportunity to direct The Shards – another, newer, Bret Easton Ellis book – but instead chose to work over old ground. Many seemed to be the “But it’s already perfect” camp, citing both Mary Harron’s impeccable 2000 adaptation and the lukewarm reception doled out to Guadagnino’s weirdly austere Suspiria remake.