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"Alfred Hitchcock Presents"

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 21, 2007 at 11:03 PM

With both Need (a somewhat "bent" relationship drama with Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts) and Dirty Tricks (a women-of- Watergate movie with Meryl Streep as Martha Mitchell and Gwynneth Paltrow as Maureen Dean) in pre-production, it could never be said that director Ryan Murphy (Running With Scissors) is one to let grass grow under his feet.

But who would've imagined Murphy directing something as unusual and film-buffy as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a drama about the making of Hitchcock's Psycho, and particularly the hurdles and roadblocks that the great British director (possibly to be played by Anthony Hopkins) went through in order to bring it come to fruition. Hitchcock was discouraged left and right from making it. The script was seen as way too dark and perverse (especially with the lead female star getting killed off after 45 minutes), and no one wanted to see a movie based more or less on the macabre exploits of serial killer Ed Gein.

Hopkins has played his share of famous willful men -- Pablo Picasso, Richard Nixon, John Quincy Adams, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg -- and he's planning to portray Leo Tolstoy in Michael Hoffman's The Last Station. But there's something extra delicious about the prospect of him playing Hitchcock.

Question is, will Murphy's film circumvent whatever it was that underwhelmed viewers of RKO 281, a TNT drama about the making of Citizen Kane?

I don't know exactly when Alfred Hitchcock Presents might shoot, but I was told earlier this evening it's definitely real. Universal, Hitchcock's home studio for the last 15 or so years of his life, may be involved as a financier-distributor. (Of course, nothing is "likely" until it actually happens so take this with a grain.)

If and when it happens, the plan is for Helen Mirren to play Alma Reville, Hitch- cock's wife and lifelong creative collaborator. Psycho was shot for Paramount, although Universal founder and Hitchcock confidante Lew Wasserman occupies a portion of the script. Psycho costars Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh are also "characters," I'm told, but not large ones. Presumably screenwriter Joseph Stefano will also figure in.

Comments

Interesting, but I would have thought that the failure of Van Sant's Psycho remake would prevent any execs from wanting something like this - not that the two movies would have a lot to do with each other, but execs are stupid.

Can't say it sounds like a story I'm dying to see, though. What's the point of watching someone try to make a piece of art and then succeed? Will it engage with Psycho the movie or just be a Hitchcock hagiography? The basic premise sounds dull.

Posted by: jeffmcm at February 22, 2007 12:10 AM

It would be pretty funny if Murphy cast Vince Vaughn as Anthony Perkins.

Posted by: The Winchester at February 22, 2007 12:57 AM

1. Movies about movies don't do well. I can think of a couple of successes (Aviator, Singin' in the Rain) but a lot more flops.

2. I wonder if AHP will deal with the more 'unethical' means employed to secure the rights to Psycho the novel from Robert Bloch. As I understand, he was cheated out of a lot of money...

Posted by: MPNeeb at February 22, 2007 05:04 AM

Jeff: RKO 281 was an HBO production not TNT.

It was originally to be made as a feature but no one would touch it until HBO agreed to fund it -- and it earned a number of awards and nominations, including a WGA and several technical Emmy Awards.

Posted by: NYCritic at February 22, 2007 06:20 AM

It should be a TV movie, then it could be Jim Broadbent or Timothy Spall as Hitchcock.

Posted by: Mgmax at February 22, 2007 06:33 AM

Spall would make a better Hitchcock than Hopkins. He would nail the odd combination of humor, authority, genius, and insecurity. H. B. Carter would be a good Alma.

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents"

Comments