At One Point, Oliver Stone Was Going to Direct
Stone was briefly attached to the film when Harron quit over DiCaprio’s casting. Bret Easton Ellis told MovieMaker: “I think I would have regretted it if Oliver Stone had made it with him. I don’t think Oliver Stone would have been the right director for this at all. Something about Mary’s style—the restraint she showed—is what makes the movie effective. I don’t think Oliver Stone is good at restraint. … And I don’t know if Leo, who is the greatest screen actor of his generation, would have survived it. And I know that Leo really, really wanted to do it and I know he was talked out of it.”