Title: Beta Man: Christian Bale’s Catharsis
A psychological short story about Christian Bale confronting his shadow—Patrick Bateman—one last time.
INT. ABANDONED SOUNDSTAGE – NIGHT
A vast, dark space. Forgotten props litter the floor. At the center stands a mirror — floor-to-ceiling, smudged with time.
CHRISTIAN BALE, older now, rugged and thoughtful, walks in slowly. His eyes are haunted. He’s wearing a long, black coat. He’s alone. But he isn’t.
Across from him, Patrick Bateman, the ghost of his younger self, sits shirtless, drenched in sweat and Armani cologne, his skin glowing from some internal furnace of hatred and narcissism.
Bateman rises.
BATEMAN
You came back. I thought you buried me under Oscar speeches and Batman toys.
BALE
I tried. God knows I tried.
BATEMAN
The women never forgave me, did they?
BALE
No… not you. Me.
Bateman walks toward him, almost gently.
BATEMAN
You became me too well. They didn’t see the irony. They saw confession.
BALE
I was 25. I wanted a challenge. I didn’t know I’d become the poster boy for every finance creep’s Tinder bio.
BATEMAN
(taunting)
You made me seductive. You made violence… stylish. They don’t quote The Machinist in college dorms. They quote me.
BALE
(quietly)
I made you a Beta Man who thought he was Alpha. A hollow man, stuffed with labels, who couldn’t even cry.
Bateman slaps him across the face.
BATEMAN
You needed me. You needed the rage. You needed the hunger. You wanted to be hated by women. So you wouldn’t love them. So they couldn’t hurt you.
Bale turns away, trembling.
BALE
I don’t want to die remembered for you. Not for killing a woman with a chainsaw. Not for flexing in the mirror like a soulless porn god.
Bateman is suddenly behind him.
BATEMAN
Then kill me.
Bale turns — there’s a gun in his hand. Heavy. Old. Loaded with the weight of every meme, every misinterpretation, every woman who saw Patrick Bateman and said, this is what men want to be.
BATEMAN
You’re scared of facing them alone. The sisterhood. The scorned. The ones who felt the cold blade of your “method acting.”
BALE
(through clenched teeth)
I’m not afraid of women. I’m afraid… of what I taught them to hate.
BATEMAN
And what was that?
BALE
(whispers)
Me.
A beat.
BATEMAN
Then do it.
Christian Bale raises the gun. His hands shake.
BATEMAN
Kill the Beta Man.
BLAM.
Mirror shatters.
Bateman is gone. Just shards on the floor now — and Christian Bale’s reflection fractured in every one.
EXT. WOMEN’S SHELTER FUNDRAISER – DAY
Christian Bale stands onstage, humble, real, holding a check.
BALE
For every man who played a monster… and never said sorry… consider this a start.
The crowd claps. Some women cry. One yells, “You’re forgiven.”
He smiles, finally.
FADE OUT.
Sometimes the strongest man is the one who says, “That wasn’t me. That was the mask. And I’m sorry.”
Well, we have to end apartheid for one. And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger. We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women. We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values. Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern and less materialism in young people.