I've seen that one a few times myself. It's hard to believe that there is actually a slasher movie out there that's decently made, I think this is the first. Very clever, witty, satirical dialogue and plot that totally skewers the 80's yuppie movement.
I was watching the spec feature commentaries afterwards. You probably already know this but, the direction and screenplay were done by women. That's a fairly rare thing to see in any movie, much less one based on a book that was railed against by feminists.
The director (Mary Harron) was the one who was dead set on Christian Bale as the lead. I don't think they could've found a better actor to play that role -- looks, physique, or style. He definitely nailed that material, his socially conscious monologues were hilarious, not to mention his music reviews.
Harron even bypassed Johnny Depp, who was interested in the screenplay (which is a good vote of confidence in the film judging by his other work). Later on, the studio tried to replace Harron and Bale with DePalma and Leo. They were planning on paying Leo $26 million on a $6 million movie. Harron claims that Gloria Steinem talked Leo out of the role because most of his fanbase are preteens (this was right after Titanic). Harron walked out on the project if she didn't get Bale, but after Leo backed out, she was brought back in. Interesting story.
