"It was very intimidating" — Chloe Sevigny reveals she was intimated by Christian Bale's method acting in 'American Psycho'

Chloe Sevigny recently spoke about her experience working alongside Christian Bale in American Psycho. In a Vanity Fair interview, published on June 7, the Oscar-nominated actress revealed Bale’s method acting process intimated her.

Christian Bale is known for practicing a rigorous method acting process through which the actor attempts to get identical to his character, making the portrayal more convincing. Sevigny, who played investment banker Bateman’s secretary, Jean, said even though she tried to respect Bale’s practice, she found it “challenging”. She reasoned:

“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.”

Chloe Sevigny revealed she was intimated by Bale as well as his process and sought some generosity to feel more at ease, stating, it was her “own ego.” The actress continued:

“It was a really challenging dynamic for me, but I don’t think that I thought he was bad...I was just kind of confused, like, ‘Why aren’t you being social?’ I wasn’t even that aware of what the Method thing was.”

Sevigny explained she never received any formal acting training and her approach was faking it until she made it. She added:

“But the whole Method thing, I was like, What even is this approach? It was very intimidating.”

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Chloe Sevigny and American Psycho co-star Josh Lucas discuss more elements from the movie

Josh Lucas, who also played Craig McDermott in Mary Harron's American Psycho, was also present in the Vanity Fair interview. He spoke to Chloe Sevigny about the day they first met:

"The day I met you, Chloe, I got into the car with Willem Dafoe and I was honestly shaking. I said to him, 'Man, I’m so nervous,' and he turned around and he just gave me this great look and he was like, 'Man, if you’re not nervous, something’s wrong.'"

Referring to Sevigny's 1995 Indie drama Kids, Lucas added:

"Obviously, I knew your work. I’m a huge fan of Kids, and I knew you were already a darling of critical cinema that I really admired."

Josh Lucas then recalled what he thought of Christian Bale when he first met the actor on set:

"I don’t know if you felt this way, but I actually truly remember thinking that Christian Bale was terrible."

Lucas then praised Christian Bale's method acting process:

"I remember the first scene I did with him, I watched him and he seemed so false—and I now realize that it was this just f***ing brilliant choice that he was making. That was 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."

Chloe Sevigny and Josh Lucas discussed how Bale’s way of practicing method acting was non-toxic, and he did not use this as an excuse for rude behavior.

The Golden Globe-winning actress added that the reason why she struggled to understand Christian Bale’s approach was that he was a child actor who found his foot in acting at a young age, without having to study the subject. Chloe Sevigny called it “a really interesting trajectory”.