This past Friday (the 13th) Anvil! director and The Terminal writer Sacha Gervasi began to shoot a film called Hitchcock, in which Anthony Hopkins plays the director of films such as Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, and Rear Window.
This film is based on Stephen Rebello‘s great book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, and also stars Helen Mirren as the director’s wife, Alma; Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh; Jessica Biel as actress Vera Miles; and James D’Arcy as Anthony Perkins, whose alter-ego Norman Bates is one of the most famous screen characters of the 20th century. (Edit: and how could I forget this week’s addition — Ralph ‘The Karate Kid’ Macchio plays Psycho screenwriter Joe Stefano.)
Now we’ve got the first look at Hopkins in character as Hitchcock, in a pose that emulates photos of the director’s famous profile.
In addition to the names mentioned above, Toni Collette will play Peggy Robertson, Hitchcock’s assistant; Danny Huston was set to be Whitfield Cook, a friend of Alma. Michael Stuhlbarg, meanwhile, will be Lew Wasserman, Hitchcock’s agent; and Michael Wincott will play the famous serial killer Ed Gein, upon whom Psycho is partially based.
And here’s the pic, which suggests that Gervasi’s team has done a good job of physically transforming Hopkins into Hitch. The real detail will be Hitch’s voice, which is both quite distinctive and very well-known. But as makeup jobs go, this is pretty good.
[People]
