When Lions Gate picked up the rights for the film, Mary Harron was set to write and direct. Initially, she considered various actors for the role of Patrick Bateman, including Billy Crudup (who was offered the part but turned it down), Ben Chaplin, Robert Sean Leonard, Johnathon Schaech, Jonny Lee Miller, and Jared Leto. Eventually, Harron offered the part to Christian Bale, who accepted. The producers tried to talk Harron into casting Edward Norton, but she refused, and was ultimately allowed to cast Bale, but only on the proviso that she cast at least two other big name actors in supporting roles. To this end, Harron hired Willem Dafoe to play Kimball and Reese Witherspoon to play Evelyn. However, after they had agreed to appear, Lions Gate told Harron they were going to make an offer to Leonardo DiCaprio to play Bateman. Harron told them if they did, she would leave the project, which is exactly what happened. Oliver Stone was subsequently hired to replace Harron, working from a script by Matt Markwalder. Stone was set to cast James Woods as Kimball, Cameron Diaz as Evelyn, Elizabeth Berkley as Courtney and Chloë Sevigny as Jean. Stone also decided to keep Leto on the project as Paul Allen. However, DiCaprio left the project to shoot The Beach (2000) instead, and as the budget began to get out of control, Stone also left, prompting Lions Gate to rehire Harron, who returned to her original castings decisions, and decided to keep Sevigny on the project.