James Toback is the latest Hollywood director to fire back at Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday after she said his work — along with films by Judd Apatow and starring Seth Rogen — spurred Elliot Rodger’s shooting rampage.
“Rodger resembled a noxious cross between Christian Bale’s slick sociopath in ‘American Psycho,’ the thwarted womanizer in James Toback’s ‘The Pick-up Artist’ and every Bond villain,” Hornaday wrote.
Acclaimed director Toback told Page Six: “The demented and evil Elliot Rodger bares the same resemblance to Robert Downey Jr. in his charmingly self-mocking performance in ‘The Pick-up Artist’ as Ann Hornaday does to a rationally competent movie reviewer — which is to say less than zero.”
Downey’s character does seem like an odd entry in the canon of movie mass murderers like Bale’s Patrick Bateman or Bond’s nemesis Blofeld. Better-known critic Pauline Kael described “The Pick-up Artist” as “an airy romantic comedy” with “a fairy-tale sunniness.”