It’s hard to believe the movie version of American Psycho is ten years old already. Feels like yesterday that my roommate and I would see it on our college’s movie channel, tuning in until at least after Jared Leto gets killed before doing whatever it was we were going to do.

You might remember this scene here, which I can’t embed without that layer of writing over it, that SPOILER ALERT ends with one dead or dying homeless guy and one stomped puppy. The dog’s squeal is just awful to hear, and the point of the scene just might be for the viewer to compare his own reactions to the guy’s murder and the dog’s killing:

The homeless man’s name is Al, but the actor’s name is Reg E. Cathey. He’s also been in The Wire and Oz, among many other shows and movies. The first thing I saw him in was Square One TV, a late 80s-early 90s public TV show that, as I was proud to realize after many dozens of episodes, was all about math. He was one of the six cast members. Anyway, the scene between him and Christian Bale is obviously grisly, excessive, shocking. But it wouldn’t be the last time these actors met.

I bought The Machinist on DVD over the weekend. $5, which is probably all I’ll spend on a DVD nowadays, though I waste more than that on not using Netflix as much as I should every month. The movie stars Christian Bale, and one of his co-workers at the factory where his character works is played by the very same Reg E. Cathey.

The two characters get along at first, or seem to. Bale’s Trevor Reznik, aside from his guilt and insomnia, sort of fits in with the guys at work. Reznik the employee is a stickler for the rules and knows his rights, but really only uses this to defend himself while facing higher-ups. Around the guys, he’s all right. Early on, Reg E. Cathey’s character, Jones, asks him if he wants to play cards, and the group jokes around. Trevor is tolerated at the very least, if not welcomed as a part of the group. But everyone’s attitude changes after an accident at the factory. It falls to Trevor to bear the responsibility for the accident. In another locker room scene, the guys joke around but Jones shuts them up. He calls Trevor out for his recent strangeness and soon goes so far as to say, “Nobody wants you here.” The tables have turned!

In a later scene at the factory, Trevor is trying to fix a broken machine and is then himself nearly involved in an accident. It is after this that his paranoia makes him snap and attack everyone including his boss, and he’s summarily fired. It’s not exactly clear if he was set up, though he easily could have been given the climate at the factory. It’s ambiguous, but it’s entirely possible that Jones pushed the button that started the machine that would have maimed and could have killed Trevor. To this point, Reg Cathey has almost gotten back at Christian Bale for killing him in that other movie, by saying what the co-workers are thinking, making Trevor feel cast out, and perhaps arranging his attack.

But between Trevor’s near-miss and his dismissal, Jones has the chance to do a little bit of good, because he’s a kind man, or to divert suspicion. He’s the one who takes a knife and cuts Trevor’s sleeve to allow him to escape certain injury. All else aside, that’s the key point: In the earlier movie, Christian Bale uses a knife to kill Reg Cathey; in the later movie, Reg Cathey uses a knife to save Christian Bale.

I wonder if they talked about this on set.