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[Nemesis_]

Seeing an American Psycho thread pop up every now and then on GAF has inspired me to make this topic and inform others of Ellis's other work which is just as good, in my opinion, as American Psycho. ^_^ A lot of it will be copied and pasted from Wiki but it's just one place to find stuff about all his works, which are brilliant.

About Easton Ellis:

(A very flattering picture, he's pretty old now a days >_>)

• He refers to himself as a moralist, though many of his critics believe he is a nihilist (myself included, but what do I know? =P)
• His characters are generally young, vacuous people, who are aware of their depravity but choose to enjoy it.
• Novels are commonly linked by characters and locales.
• Major characters in one novel may become minor characters in another, or vice versa.

His Writing Style:

• His primary genre is Transgressional Fiction.
• Focuses on characters who feel confined by the status quo of society.
• Commonly, the characters indulge in unusual or elicit ways to break free of these "confines".
• Protagonists in Ellis's novels may be seen as mentally ill, anti social and/or nihilistic.
• The genre (and Ellis' novels) deal exclusive with taboo subject matter.

His Magnum Opus:

• The graphically violent American Psycho.
• Original publishers backed out after external protests from interest groups.
• Themes of misogyny were majoe causes for the backing out.
• Some consider the novel to be an example of Transgressive Art.
• The novel attempts to aesthetize violence
• It is considered by many to be a cult classic.

Less Than Zero:

Released: 1985

General Plot

Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980's, this coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation who have experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age, in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money a place devoid of feeling or hope.

Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs and also into the seamy world of L.A. after dark.

Film Adaptation:

General Info:

• Less Than Zero was very loosely adapted into a movie in 1987 by 20th Century Fox.
• It starred Andrew McCarthy as Clay, Robert Downey Jr. as Julian, Jami Gertz as Blair, and James Spader as Rip.
• Brad Pitt also appeared as an extra in the film.
• In the film, Clay is an anti-drug crusader who returns home from college to try and rescue his friends from their various narcotics addictions.

Interesting Trivia:

• Ellis refused to see the movie due to the creative liberties taken.
• However, he later acknowledged the film and appreciates it visually as "a snapshot of a particular time".
• Ellis adamantly claims there is no connection between the book and the film.
• Tarantino is alledgedly interested in producing a much more faithful adaptation.

Unfortunately, I have not seen the film as I have been told it is not very faithful to the source material at all. However, if anyone has any information I would be glad to edit it into this post.

The Rules of Attraction

Released: 1987

General Plot

This tale of privileged college students at their self- absorbed and childish worst is the very book that countless students have dreamed of writing at their most self-absorbed and childish moments. Through a series of brief first-person accounts, the novel chronicles one term at a fictional New England college, with particular emphasis on a decidedly contemporary love triangle (one woman and two men) in which all possible combinations have been explored, and each pines after the one who's pining after the other.

Lauren, who changes her course subject every time she changes her sleeping partner, is the centre of a curious love triangle which involes the shrewd and passionate bixsexual, Paul, and Sean whose ambivalence and cynicism conceal - even from himself - his own romantic yearnings.

Through eachs of the characters' voices, Ellis presents a kaleidoscopie view of clashing expectations and frustrations, of the dreams and tumultuous desires of youth. The Rules of Attraction paints a poignant and sometimes hilarious picture of the couplings and capitulations, the dramas and the downfalls of American college life in the 1980s.

Film Adaptation:

General Info / Differences:

• Rules of Attraction was adapted into a film in 2002, with Roger Avary writing the screenplay.
• It starred James Van Der Beek as Sean, Shannyn Sossamon as Lauren, Ian Somerhalder as Paul, and Kip Pardue as Victor.
• Jessica Biel and Claire Kramer also appear in the film, with a certain scene bound to please Biel fans
• The beginning of the film is in fact almost the end, a stance not taken in the book.
• Paul and Sean's relationship is left ambiguous in the novel, although the film depicts Sean as a masturbation fantasy of Paul's.
• Lauren is portrayed as an energetic virgin in the film, while in the book she is very promiscuous.
• The relationship between Sean & Lauren is never really explored in the film.
• More differences can be found at the Wiki article --> The Rules of Attraction

Interesting Trivia:

• Multiple versions of the film exist.
• The Australian version is the only uncut version, although it's only 22 seconds longer.
• Sean Bateman, one of the characters in the novel, is actually Patrick Bateman's younger brother.
• Patrick Bateman appears briefly in the novel but unfortunately not in the film.
• Casper Van Dien was to play Bateman in the film, but the scenes were ultimately cut even though they were filmed.
• Kip Pardue's character, Victor, is the protagonist of Glamorama, Ellis's

American Psycho

Released: 1991

General Plot

Set in Manhattan and beginning on April Fools' Day 1987, American Psycho spans roughly two years in the life of wealthy young investment banker Patrick Bateman. Bateman, 26 years old when the story begins, narrates his everyday activities, from his daily life among the upper-class elite of New York to his forays into murder by nightfall.

Patrick Batemane is twenty-six and works on Wall Street; he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. American Psycho is a bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognise but do not wish to face, and it takes is on a head-on collision with America's greatest dream - and it's worse nightmare.

Film Adaptation:

General Info / Differences:

• American Psycho was adapted into a film in 2000, with Mary Harron directing.
• It starred Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman. Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto and Willem Dafoe also co-starred.
• The film was notably more tame than the novel, omitting several scenes of cannibalism, child murder and much more for very obvious reasons.
• The film makes the events appear to be figments of Bateman's imagination, but Harron herself regrets making the film this way.
• Bateman's hilarious monologues from the novel are still somewhat present in the film.
• The references to the Patty Winter's show are not.
• Similar to the WHOLE CHAPTER that talkes about Phil Collins' Genesis, Bateman does talk about Genesis in the film.
• Bateman's suits look normal in the film, whereas the ones he describes in the novel would look ridiculous in real life

Interesting Trivia:

• The film spawned a direct to video sequel starring Meg Griffin herself, Mila Kunis. Any fan of American Psycho will tell you to STAY AWAY!
• Leonardo DiCaprio was originally set to play Bateman, with Oliver Stone to direct.
• The events that Bateman mentions in his phone confession are events that happened in the book, but not in the film.
• Ed Norton turned down the role of Bateman. Similarly, Cameron Diaz was to play Reese Witherspoon's role of Evelyn.
• Witherspoon reduced Evelyn's role by demanding that she not be involved in any violence and had little screen time.
• Several of the situations seen in the novel can be seen in the diary that Bateman keeps towards the end of the film
• The novel is sealed at stores in Australia and requries identification of 18 years or older to be purchased legally.

The Informers

Released: 1994

General Plot

"In this seductive and chillingly nihilistic new book, Bret Easton Ellis, the author of American Psycho, returns to Los Angeles, the city whose moral badlands he portrayed unforgettably in Less Than Zero. The time is the early eighties. The characters go to the same schools and eat at the same restaurants. Their voices enfold us as seamlessly as those of DJ's heard over a car radio. They have sex with the same boys and girls and buy from the same dealers. In short, they are connected in the only way people can be in that city.

Dirk sees his best friend killed in a desert car wreck, then rifles through his pockets for a last joint before the ambulance comes. Cheryl, a wannabe newscaster, chides her future stepdaughter, "You're tan but you don't look happy." Jamie is a clubland carnivore with a taste for human blood. As rendered by Ellis, their interactions compose a chilling, fascinating, and outrageous descent into the abyss beneath L.A.'s gorgeous surfaces."

The book "The Informers" follows the lives of interconnected characters. Each chapter in this book of short stories has a different first person, or narrator. The characters involved with the narrators are often repeated through a few chapters while the secondary characters in one chapter could appear as the narrator in another. The collection of stories was intended as a stopgap filler for Ellis, as his novel Glamorama was repeatedly delayed. In a 2005 bookstore signing, Ellis said that he has not written a short story since 1986.

!!!! Chapter Summaries can be found at the Wiki page !!!!

Film Adaptation:

General Info / What We Know:

• Ellis has written the script, with Gregor Jordan (Two Hands, Buffalo Soldiers, Ned Kelly) directing.
• Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke, Amber Heard, Kim Basinger, Billy Bob Thornton, Rhys Ifans, Chris Isaak, Joel Edgerton, Brandon Routh, and the late Brad Renfro all appear in the film, among others.
• Ashley Olsen was originally cast as Basinger's daughter, Christie, but withdrew from the project.
• Supernatural elements of the short stories, such as Zombies and Vampires, have been removed.
• The film is pretty much finished, but without a release date.

Glamorama

Released: 1998

General Plot

Set in the mid-1990s the novel begins in New York City, following a hip, 27-year-old model and nightclub manager Victor Ward, who spends his days and nights organizing parties and worrying whether A-list celebrities will turn up. Eventually he is given a task by a mysterious diplomat named F. Fred Palakon, which involves going to London to search for one of Ward's ex-girlfriends who has gone missing. Things begin to take a worrying turn as Ward gets mixed up with a group of terrorists in Paris.

As American Psycho was a satire of capitalism and consumerism, Glamorama is a satire of society's obsession with celebrities and beauty; it features a great deal of violence, black humor and surrealism. One theme is the parallel between the fear of the unlikely, horrible fate of being killed by terrorists and the fear of the extremely likely, rather less horrible fate of being unable to live up to the beauty of professional models. Both fears are fed by the media.

Whilst the first half primarily introduces the characters and sets the scene, the second-half of Glamorama, when the action shifts from New York to London and then Paris, contains a great deal of extreme violence, in particular two gruesome torture sequences that feature castration and electrocution. There are also many bomb attacks, with detailed descriptions of men, women and children being blown apart, burned alive and mutilated.

Film Adaptation:

General Info / Differences:

• Glamorama was set to be developed into a film around the same time as Rules of Attraction.
• It would've starred Kip Pardue reprising his role of Victor from Rules of Attractions, with Avary returning.
• Others attached to the project include Shannen Doherty, Robert Sean Leonard, Billy Zane, Rose McGowan, Casey Affleck, Shannyn Sossamon, Vince Vaughn, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Brittany Daniel.
• The project began after the filming of Kip Pardue's very fast European trip in Rules of Attraction
• Unfortunately, the project never took off.
• The page for the project is still available on IMDB --> Glitterati (2004)
• Additionally, a "history" of the Glamorama film project is available here --> This Is Not An Exit | Glamorama Movie Blog

Interesting Trivia:

• Alison Poole, one of Bateman's victims in American Psycho, appears in Glamorama as a major character. (She did not appear in the film)
• Lauren Hynde makes an appearance in first part of the novel.
• Bertrand, Sean Bateman's french room mate from Camden in Rules of Attractions, makes an appearance in Glamorama too.
• Patrick Bateman, Sean Bateman and Mitchell Allen (Paul Allen) make appearances in the novel.

Lunar Park

Released:2005

General Plot

The novel begins with an inflated and parodic but reasonably accurate portrayal of Ellis' early fame. It details incidents (probably exaggerated) of his wild drug use and his publicly humiliating book tours to promote Glamorama. The novel dissolves into fiction as Ellis describes a liaison with an actress named Jayne Dennis, whom he later marries, and with whom he conceives an (initially) illegitimate child. From this point the fictional Ellis' life reflects the real Ellis' only in some descriptions of the past and possibly in his general sentiments.

Ellis and Jayne move to Midland, a (fictional) affluent suburban town outside New York City, which they no longer consider safe due to pervasive terrorist acts in a post-9/11 America. Fictional incidents include suicide bombings in Wal-Marts and a dirty bomb detonated in Florida[1][2]. Strange incidents start happening on a Halloween night, some involving Sarah's (Ellis's fictional stepdaughter) Terby doll.

As the novel progresses, the haunting of Ellis' McMansion and questions over the death of his father become increasingly prominent. With his history of drug use and alcoholism, his wife, children, and housekeeper are understandably skeptical of his claims that the house is haunted.

Jayne Dennis is a fictional character created by Ellis, but aside from the novel itself, Ellis has taken several other steps to create verisimilitude for her character. Although she does have a website, the site consists entirely of obviously doctored images and a fictional filmography. Ellis links to her site from his, but it is suspected he created Dennis' site himself; some authentication pages even request the user register at the official Lunar Park site. There is no profile for an actress of this name on either the Internet Movie Database or eonline.com. It is noted in a disclaimer on the stills page that the site is a work of fiction.

Film Adaptation:

• Palm-Star Entertainment has announced production of a movie version of Lunar Park with an expected release date in 2009.

Interesting Trivia:

• Patrick Bateman is suspected by Bret in the novel for several suburbia murders.
• Donal Kimball, the detective played by Willem Dafoe in the American Psycho film, returns in Lunar Park.
• Jay McInerney, Ellis' real life friend appears in this novel.
• The novel explores Ellis' relationship with his father, also highlighting the inspiration for the Patrick Bateman character.
• The original plot had terrorists threatening suburbia, but Ellis removed it because he felt it was pointless and too similar to Glamorama.
• The novel is the only one of Ellis' that can be seen as standalone horror and not Transgressive fiction.
• The novel is heavily inspired by Stephen King.

Imperial Bedrooms

Released: 2010

What We Know:

• It will be Bret Easton Ellis' seventh novel.
• It will be a direct sequel to Less Than Zero, Ellis' first novel.
• The premise of Imperial Bedrooms will be that the main characters are now reaching their middle age.
• The title is drawn from the title of an Elvis Costello song, just as Less Than Zero was.

Enjoy Ellis? Here's some other authors you may enjoy.

• Chuck Palahniuk - Fight Club, Choke, Invisible Monsters, Haunted, Snuff.
• Luke Rhinehart - The Dice Man
• Mark Z. Danielewski - House of Leaves (This will appeal more to those who enjoyed Lunar Park than any other Ellis novels.)
• Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting, Ecstacy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance

So yeah! That's it. I am a huge fan and I would like to discuss any of the novels with fellow fans, if possible.

 

[Costanza]

I've actually been meaning to check out his books. Thanks for the thread.

 

[OnkelC]

absolutely worthy thread.

 

[Cardon]

Excellent thread.

 

[beelzebozo]

very nice! he's an extremely talented author.

i'll read through all you've done here after i return these videotapes

 

[master15]

Awesome thread, I can't really contribute much as I've only read American Psycho however have planned to for a long time to read more of his stuff. Hopefully this thread is the impetus to do so.

 

[Nemesis_]

very nice! he's an extremely talented author.

i'll read through all you've done here after i return these videotapes

I had trouble making this thread though, on the Patty Winters show they were interviewing a donut.:lol

Awesome thread, I can't really contribute much as I've only read American Psycho however have planned to for a long time to read more of his stuff. Hopefully this thread is the impetus to do so.

Yeah, it's probably best to read them all in order. I personally read American Psycho first but then I read them all in order again. I just finished my second read of Glamorama and the way they never actually explain the terrorists motives makes you feel like Victor himself. It's just so well done. Gotta love it. The torture scene made me feel a bit ill afterwards too =P

 

[White Man]

The Rules of Attraction is a pretty good movie. More people should check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ8zwI4i3s (iirc there's some NSFWishness somewhere in the middle of this, but just for a second.)

 

[Cardon]

I just finished my second read of Glamorama and the way they never actually explain the terrorists motives makes you feel like Victor himself. It's just so well done. Gotta love it. The torture scene made me feel a bit ill afterwards too =P

Same here. I found it hard to get through that part due to what was being done on the poor fellow.

 

[teruterubozu]

I tried reading Glamorama awhile back but just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll dust it off and try again.

 

[Nemesis_]

The Rules of Attraction is a pretty good movie. More people should check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ8zwI4i3s (iirc there's some NSFWishness somewhere in the middle of this, but just for a second.)

The best part about this is when he talks about getting a phone call from a girl in Camden and letting her listen to the church bells. You READ about that from Lauren's perspective in Rules of Attraction. So fucking awesome ^_^

Same here. I found it hard to get through that part due to what was being done on the poor fellow.

I remember them describing purple bubbling fluid. Man that was so fucking weird when I first read it. >_>

I tried reading Glamorama awhile back but just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll dust it off and try again.

The beginning can be boring but it gets interesting once Victor is on the cruise. The way Ellis describes Victor's current state is really well done too, you feel JUST LIKE what Victor would feel on the cruise ship. Brilliant stuff.