HITCHCOCK-2012-The genesis of the
movie PYSCHO and it's controversial road from book to screen is
basically the plot of this film bio of the great director (Anthony
Hopkins never out of his suit and tie). Despite the success of his
previous film (the classic NORTH BY NORTHWEST) no studio would touch
the new project. It also practically says that wife Alma (Helen
Mirren) salvaged the whole picture after Hitchcock had filmed it. The
director comes across as a bit of a loony, insulting everyone and
imaging his wife is having an affair but Hopkins portrayal is
admirable and mostly the film is a positive look at his career to
that point. However the film really insults Anthony Perkins (played
by James D'Arcy) and his contribution. Instead of showing him and his
portrayal as the focal point of PYSCHO, his character is brushed off
as being nothing but a homo mama's boy who understood nothing that
was going on. But of course Janet Leigh's role was played by film
darling Scarlett Johansson so the director Sacha Gervasi was probably
so enamored of her he focused everything on her character (not that
that Janet Leigh's role wasn't crucial to the original story; it
was). I wonder if the future Sir Alfred really did talk to Ed Gein
(Michael Wincott)?
Despite it's faults I like HITCHCOCK better than most Hollywood bios I've seen recently. It could be because although Hopkins and Mirren are fine Academy Award winner actors they are also both hacks who would do anything for money and there for having them both in the same film made me wary, yet it wasn't as bad I thought it could have been.
It also features Danny Huston as screenwriter Whitfield Cook, Ralph Macchio as Joseph Stefano and Jessica Biel as Vera Miles. It's based on a book by Stephen Rebello with a screenplay by John McLaughlin (THE BLACK SWAN). Director Gervasi's claim to fame before this was his screenplay for the Tom Hanks flop THE TERMINAL.
Thanks for reading!
