Bret Easton Ellis: His 10 Most Controversial Moments (Not Including the Kanye Movie)

Kanye West might be famous for some of his more controversial outbursts but the rapper has got nothing on his future collaborator Brett Easton Ellis. With the American Psycho author confirming he’ll be writing a ‘Yeezus’ movie here’s a look at his ten most controversial moments.

Kanye West who is teaming up with Bret Easton Ellis for a 'Yeezus' movie, we don't know why either

1. American Psycho

Ellis first broke on to the literary scene with his 1985 novel, ‘Less Than Zero’, however he would achieve greater fame with his third novel ‘American Psycho’. The controversial work caused outrage upon its release for its depiticions of violence. The ensuing negative publicity caused the book to be dropped by publisher Simon & Schuster, though it would later be picked up by Vintage books. In 2000 it was made into a pretty good movie of the same name starring Christian Bale.

2. Spat with GLAAD

In May last year Ellis wrote an lengthy article about GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for 'Out Magazine'. In it he called the organisation ‘the gatekeepers of optically correct gayness’. It’s not the first time he’s had problems with the organisation, previously he had been invited to attend the Glaad media awards but the invitation was later withdrawn due to some of Ellis’s more controversial tweets, including one  where he questioned the rumoured casting of openly gay actor Matt Bomer in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ because of his sexuality.

3. Don't ask for his thoughts on 'Glee'

Glaad also objected to a tweet Ellis wrote two years earlier referring to TV show ‘Glee’. The writer wrote in 2011, ‘I like the idea of "Glee" but why is it that every time I watch an episode I feel like I've stepped into a puddle of HIV?’

4. Or 'Les Miserables'

One film Ellis isn’t so keen on is 2012 Oscar winner 'Les Miserables', after attending a screening the writer tweeted, "did I hear applause at the end or am I just losing my mind? Borderline ineptitude. A disaster…" He didn't stop there and went on to say "the film version of 'Les Miserables' is so bad that it made me rethink why I ever loved the stage version. 2 hours and 40 minutes of tacky."

Bret Easton Ellis (second from right), he probably thinks you're overrated.

5. 'Gravity' spoiler alert

Another film that didn’t impress the writer was the Oscar nominee ‘Gravity’.Taking to Twitter once again and using his favourite adjective, ‘overrated’ Ellis called it "most ridiculously overrated movie of 2013". He was also accused of spoiling the movie when he tweeted about the outcome of Sandra Bullock’s character after attending a screening.

6. Kelly Marcel and 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

In the same week that he dissed Les Miserables, Ellis got more attention for his perceived attack on screenwriter Kelly Marcel. The author had been campaigning to write the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ screenplay - which we think he'd have made a great job of - but was beaten to the job by the british writer. Not one for congratulations Ellis vented his frustration on twitter, writing, ‘Kelly Marcel?!? KELLY MARCEL?!? Kelly Marcel is WRITING the script for "Fifty Shades of Grey"?!? THIS is the movie they want to make? ARGH"

7. David Foster Wallace is overrated

Whilst reading a book about author David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in 2008, Ellis decided he wasn't a fan of the author and described him as "the most tedious, overrated, tortured, pretentious writer of my generation." Ellis went on to gave his feelings on the David Wallace ‘myth’ in which the author is held up as a ‘literary genius’, saying, "David Foster Wallace carried around a literary pretentiousness that made me embarrassed to have any kind of ties to the publishing scene … I continue to find David Foster Wallace the most tedious, overrated, tortured, pretentious writer of my generation.” Given his feelings on the author it is unclear why he picked up the biography in the first place.

8...as is Alice Munro

After it was announced that veteran short story writer Alice Munro was to be given the Nobel Prize in Literature everyone in the literary world seemed pretty happy, apart from Ellis. Ellis first tweeted "Alice Munro is so completely overrated" before following up with "Alice Munro was always an overrated writer and now that she's won The Nobel she always will be. The Nobel is a joke and has been for ages". However after it became clear that the world wasn't in agreement with the writer he wrote, "the sentimental hatred for me has made me want to re-read Munro, who I never really got, because now I feel like I've beaten-up Santa Claus."

9. and Katherine Bigelow, but she's hot

Another victim of the writer’s Twitter venom was director Kathryn Bigelow, who Ellis called ‘overrated’ (not another one?) on twitter, (again). The director, who helmed the award winning, ‘The Hurt Locker’ and was receiving praise at the time for ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ was said by Ellis to be only receiving accolates because she was a ‘hot woman’. He wrote "Kathryn Bigelow would be considered a mildly interesting filmmaker if she was a man but since she's a very hot woman she's really overrated." After much outcry Ellis later admitted he was wrong in an article on The Daily Beast, entitled ‘Dear Kathryn Bigelow: Bret Easton Ellis Is Really Sorry.’

Lindsay Lohan and James Deen star in 'The Canyons'

10. 'The Canyons'

As expected Ellis's much hyped 2013 film 'The Canyons' for which he wrote the screenplay was also met with contraversy. The film starred much troubled actress Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen, making his first foray into mainstream acting. The film didn't do much to revive Lohan’s career and ended up being critically panned although Lohan did receive a small amount of praise for her work. 

One thing's for sure: the entertainment world would certainly be a quieter and less interesting place with Ellis. Check out his podcast series to hear more from the author.