Hollywood Reporter (2012) - Making of Hitchcock
Details
- magazine article: Making of Hitchcock
- author(s): Gregg Kilday
- journal: Hollywood Reporter (07/Dec/2012)
- issue: volume 418, page 94
- journal ISSN: 0018-3660
- publisher: BPI Communications
- keywords: "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" - by Stephen Rebello, "Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man" - by Pat Hitchcock O'Connell and Laurent Bouzereau, Academy Awards, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV), Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville, Anthony Hopkins, Bernard Herrmann, Cary Grant, Chasen's Restaurant, Los Angeles, California, Danny Huston, Dial M for Murder (1954), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Helen Mirren, James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Jessica Biel, Lew Wasserman, North by Northwest (1959), Paramount Pictures, Psycho (1960), Robert Bloch, Sacha Gervasi, Scarlett Johansson, Stage Fright (1950), Stephen Rebello, Strangers on a Train (1951), Universal Studios, Vera Miles, Whitfield Cook
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Article
That famous shower scene, a phone call to a heavy metal rocker, an untold love story: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren and their director reveal how a new take on the master of suspense came together BY GREGG KILDAY
THE SCENE IS THE PREMIERE of Psycho, the 1960 classic that stunned audiences in its day by killing off its leading lady just a third of the way into the picture. Alfred Hitchcock, its director, unable to watch the film on which he has staked his reputation as well as a good chunk of his fortune, is hovering in the theater lobby. Through closed doors, he hears the famous first notes of composer Bernard Herrmann's shrieking violins, signaling the beginning of the movie's shocking shower scene, now indelibly imprinted on the minds of anyone who has ever seen it: the head‑on shot of the shower head, the shadowy silhouette of a knife‑wielding woman seen through the shower curtain, the furiously slashing knife. On cue, the audience screams can be heard.
Hitchcock reacts as if wielding the knife himself, raising his arm and slashing the air. The violins and the audience screams are building to a crescendo. And suddenly Hitch is dancing about as if he is an orchestra conductor, anticipating every moment, summoning each new thrill.
Did it actually happen that way? Probably not. That bit of business was invented by Anthony Hopkins, who plays the iconic director, during one of the final shooting days on the new film Hitchcock, which Fox Searchlight released Nov. 23. "Being a musician myself, I appreciate those higher string harmonics, and I just went with it and started conducting the dagger thrusts," admits the actor.
But it does point toward a deeper truth about the renowned master of suspense: He certainly knew a thin...
