Complete Monster: Rip Millar is a depraved drug dealer, pervert, and sadist who embodies the worst of the degeneracy protagonist Clay encounters in Los Angeles. Slinging drugs and encouraging cruelty even as a teenager, Rip shows Clay his truest colors when he reveals that he has drugged and tied up a 12-year-old girl to use as a Sex Slave for himself and his buddies. Years later, Rip becomes a full-fledged crime boss who uses threats of violence to get his way. Lustfully obsessed with aspiring actress Rain, Rip brutally tortures her lovers and friends to death to isolate her as his own, notably having her best friend raped and killed in a Snuff Film, all while planning to frame Clay for the multiple slayings. When questioned about the motives, reasons and sense for his atrocities, Rip simply replies, "Why not?"
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In an interview celebrating the launching of his book, Imperial Bedrooms, Bret Easton Ellis recounted how many fans of his work would come up to him and say "You're the guy who wrote Less Than Zero, that's the book that made me want to live in L.A.!"
Complete Monster: Rip is a slimy drug dealer whose crooked slinging of abusive substances leads to the ruination of addict Julian's life. Always prowling around for new young people to addict to drugs and rack up profits, Rip allows Julian to drive up such a debt to him that Julian spends most of his time depressed and broke, at which point Rip takes advantage of the drugged up Julian to forcibly turn him into a prostitute and pimp him out to wealthy men. Even when Julian tries to get clean and pay Rip back, Rip just manipulates Julian into using again and once more forces him into prostitution, all while threatening Julian's friends. Julian eventually dies from all the horrible abuse he's been through, something Rip callously predicted would come to pass earlier in the film with casual indifference.
Until that movie, I took my drugs after work and on the weekends. That changed on Less Than Zero, the role was like the ghost of Christmas future. The character was an exaggeration of myself. Then things changed and, in some ways, I became an exaggeration of the character.
Of course, I envisioned everybody in the book as blonde and everybody in the movie is a brunette.
Retroactive Recognition: Brad Pitt makes an uncredited early appearance as an extra portraying a preppy guy party-goer as Clay enters the party at the beginning of the film.
