Which Of These Tom Cruise Late Show Appearances Inspired American Psycho?

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After yesterday's unprompted accusation by Bronson Pinchot that Risky Business-era Tom Cruise was homophobic, another random Cruise character assault bubbled to the surface today. In an interview with BlackBook, American Psycho director Mary Harron alleges that Christian Bale based his performance of serial killer Patrick Bateman on Cruise after the movie star made one particularly "Martian-like" Letterman appearance. But which one was it?

Here's Harron whole quote about how she and Bale developed Bret Easton Ellis's character for the screen:

"We talked about how Martian-like Patrick Bateman was, how he was looking at the world like somebody from another planet, watching what people did and trying to work out the right way to behave. And then one day he called me and he had been watching Tom Cruise on David Letterman, and he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes, and he was really taken with this energy."

After reviewing the American Pyscho trailer (below), it all started to make sense to us.

Even though the only appearances available likely aired after 2000, when American Psycho was released, the Cruise-Bateman similarities remain. We've picked out the three likeliest contenders; which appearance do you think Bale channeled?

Tom Cruise Laughs Manically

Tom Cruise Displays Inappropriate Levels of Enthusiasm Towards Paul Schaffer & Cooking Demo

Tom Cruise Lays Deliberate Charm On Audience Members



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