It’s often said that what goes on behind the scenes of a movie can be much more fascinating than the film itself.
Indeed, there is typically a lot of politics, drama, and intrigue swirling around the production sets of every movie. With Alfred Hitchcock being one of the most studied directors in cinema history, the behind the scenes story of one of his most legendary classics, Psycho, could indeed make a good movie, which currently looks like it is coming together.
As Collider and Variety report, casting for The Making of Psycho is currently coalescing with Anthony Hopkins playing Hitchcock, Helen Mirren playing his wife and trusted confidant Alma, Scarlett Johansson will be shower victim Janet Leigh, and James D’Arcy will play Anthony Perkins, who never escaped being typecast as Norman Bates even though his previous image was much more wholesome.
Also up for roles in the film are Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Danny Huston (son of legendary director John Huston who also had a role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and Michael Wincott (The Crow).
This film is based on the excellent book by Stephen Rebello, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, and it’s one of the best works on the director ever written.
Many believe that Psycho created the modern horror film because instead of putting horror in a musty old castle or a mad scientists lab, it made the unassuming guy next door the monster, and the average, small town environment the story takes place in could be your own backyard. Nowadays, we see many scary films in every day environments, but when Psycho hit audiences, it terrified them because it felt real, and it gave them the impression something could actually happen to them.
When I was writing my own book on horror films (shameless plug: Reel Terror, coming October 2 from St Martins Press), I spoke to Rita Riggs, who was the costume designer of Psycho, who remarked to me, “They just won’t let that movie die.”
And even with all the masterpieces he made, Psycho is arguably Hitchcock’s best remembered film to this day. Certainly the Making of Psycho movie will help keep it alive for today’s generation, and make them lock the bathroom door before they step in the shower.
