Bret Easton Ellis

Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author. He is considered to be one of the Generation X 1980s authors. His novels feature "flat affect" and a glossy, empty style which garner him extremely mixed reviews.

He was born in Los Angeles and raised in Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley, the son of a wealthy property developer. His parents divorced around 1982(?). He was educated at Buckley High School, where he did not distinguish himself, and then took a music based course at Bennington College[?] in Vermont. He was a part-time musician in some minor 1980s bands, such as The Parents, before his first book was published while he was still a student. Less Than Zero, a tale of disaffected rich teenage Los Angelenos, was well received by the critics and sold respectably (50,000 copies in its first year). He moved to New York in 1987 to release his second novel.

His most controversial work, the graphic yuppie serial killer satire American Psycho, was intended to be published by Simon & Schuster[?] but they withdrew after external protests (NOW[?], and many others, considered the novel dangerously misogynistic and worse) and pressure from Gulf & Western[?]. The novel was later published by Vintage[?].

He keeps the details of his personal life cryptic, media stories debating his sexuality or drug use are usually ignored.

Novels

• Less Than Zero (1985)
• The Rules of Attraction (1987)
• American Psycho (1991)
• The Informers (linked short stories, 1994)
• Glamorama (1999)

Less Than Zero was made into a film in 1987, directed by Marek Kanievska[?] and starring Andrew McCarthy[?], Robert Downey Jr[?] and Jami Gertz[?]. American Psycho was filmed in 2000, directed by Mary Harron[?] and starring Christian Bale[?]. The Rules of Attraction was filmed in 2002, directed by Roger Avary and starring James Van Der Beek[?] and Shannyn Sossamon[?]. A film based on Glamorama is in pre-production, it is tentatively slated for release in 2004.