Hitchcock (2012)

A love story between influential filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho in 1959.

Director:

Sacha Gervasi

Writers:

John J. McLaughlin (screenplay), Stephen Rebello (book)

Stars:

Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Hopkins	...	Alfred Hitchcock
Helen Mirren	...	Alma Reville
Scarlett Johansson	...	Janet Leigh
Danny Huston	...	Whitfield Cook
Toni Collette	...	Peggy Robertson
Michael Stuhlbarg	...	Lew Wasserman
Michael Wincott	...	Ed Gein
Jessica Biel	...	Vera Miles
James D'Arcy	...	Anthony Perkins
Richard Portnow	...	Barney Balaban
Kurtwood Smith	...	Geoffrey Shurlock
Ralph Macchio	...	Joseph Stefano
Kai Lennox	...	Hilton Green
Tara Summers	...	Rita Riggs
Wallace Langham	...	Saul Bass

Storyline

In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Alma, are at the top of their creative game as filmmakers amid disquieting insinuations about it being time to retire. To recapture his youth's artistic daring, Alfred decides his next film will adapt the lurid horror novel, Psycho, over everyone's misgivings. Unfortunately, as Alfred self-finances and labors on this film, Alma finally loses patience with his roving eye and controlling habits with his actresses. When an ambitious friend lures her to collaborate on a work of their own, the resulting marital tension colors Alfred's work even as the novel's inspiration haunts his dreams.

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Plot Keywords:

filmmaker | 1960s | cartoon on tv | swimming pool | filmmaker name in title | 

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Taglines:

Good evening.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violent images, sexual content and thematic material

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 December 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of 'Psycho'

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$287,715 (USA) (21 November 2012)

Gross:

$6,002,708 (USA) (8 March 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Cold Spring Pictures, Montecito Picture Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anthony Hopkins is one of a number of several top British and American actors who actively pursued the role of Alfred Hitchcock.

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Goofs

When Hitch is being shaved, his assistant Peggy (Toni Colette) comments that 20th Century Fox is offering him to direct The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). The scene happens after the Chicago premiere of North by Northwest (1959) on July 8, 1959. To that date, the film version of The Diary of Anne Frank was already finished and its first public show had happened on March, 1959, at least four months before the Chicago premiere of North by Northwest.

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Quotes

Alma Reville: You shouldn't wait until half way through. Kill her after thirty minutes.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits, there is a brief shot of Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock standing in profile in front of an empty screening room.

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Connections

Featured in Film 2013: Episode dated 6 February 2013 (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Funeral March of a Marionette"
Written by Charles Gounod

User Reviews

Call me Hitch, drop the ...

Greetings again from the darkness. Here goes: John J McLaughlin wrote this "Hitchcock" screenplay based on Stephen Rebello's book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho", which was based on the filming of the Psycho screenplay from Joseph Stefano, which was loosely based on Robert Bloch's book, which was based on the real life crimes of Ed Gein. Whew!

It's kind of interesting that Alfred Hitchcock is hot again. His Vertigo recently displaced Citizen Kane as the all-time greatest film. HBO is still running their recent production of "The Girl", which is based on Hitchcock's making of "The Birds" and his unhealthy connection to Tippi Hedren. And now, we get this Hollywood production, supposedly based on the master of suspense. I saw supposedly, because this film plays like it was written by the heirs of Alma Reville, Hitch's long time wife and collaborator. We all knew she worked on his films and contributed ideas, but the film wants you to believe she was the real genius behind the public genius.

The movie is entitled "Hitchcock" and is based on the making of "Psycho", but in fact, it's more the story of Alma and her husband. While there is nothing wrong with that story ... in fact, it is quite interesting and entertaining ... it's just kind of false advertising.

Helen Mirren portrays Alma, and instead of the mousy woman who usually faded into the background, we see a fairly strong and talented woman who goes toe-to-toe with Hitch in her best scene. Sir Anthony Hopkins dons some facial appliances and a fat suit and does a solid job of capturing the odd, creepy, leering, disturbed, insecure genius we recognize as Alfred Hitchcock. He comes across as louder and more in-motion than what we have previously seen. And while director Sacha Gervasi makes it clear that Hitch is not a "normal" guy, he doesn't dwell too much on the blond fixations.

The emphasis on the skills and importance of Alma would be fine were it not so exaggerated. Surely every great director and writer and artist has a muse and/or support system; and, there is no question Alma was a very talented lady, but her strength here bordered on distracting to the overall picture. Especially needless was the storyline of Alma being attracted to screenwriter Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston), who wrote "Strangers on a Train" for Hitchcock.

The Hitchcock humor is allowed to shine through and his battles with Paramount Studio head Barney Balaban (Richard Portnow) and the censorship board (Kurtwood Smith) are excellent. Hopkins finds the humanity under the fat suit and is especially good in his work with Scarlett Johansson (as Janet Leigh) and Jessica Biel (as Vera Miles). I also got a kick out of James D'Arcy as the affected Anthony Perkins and all his quirky mannerisms.

Though this barely qualifies as a story on the making of Psycho, it was chilling to watch the addition of Bernard Herrmann's iconic score added to the shower scene. In fact, Danny Elfman does a nice job of subtly adding a Herrmann-type score to this film. I'm not sure if the film will play well with real Hitchcock aficionados, but if you can forgive the Alma slant, it's actually quite interesting and entertaining and kind of a sweet film at its core.