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Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller (1995) by Janet Leigh & Christopher Nickens

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authors Janet Leigh & Christopher Nickens
publisher Harmony (1995)
ISBN 051770112X
 
links LibraryThing
 

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Summary

The fascinating, behind-the-scenes saga of the making of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece. This is the richest and most revealing portrait of a movie classic in-the-making ever compiled, from casting decisions to personality clashes, from anecdotes about one of Hollywood's most celebrated -- and feared -- directors to the truth about why the FBI needed to protect Janet Leigh after the opening of the film.

Reviews & Articles

Leigh is perhaps best remembered for her role as Marion Crane, who is stabbed to death in the shower sequence of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Opening to mixed reviews in 1960, Psycho's sleazy storyline so spooked Paramount Pictures that Hitchcock was forced to finance it himself. So recounts Leigh in this amiable, somewhat scattershot look at the making of Psycho, occasioned, she notes, by the film's continuing popularity and the "blatant inaccuracies" that surround it. Attempting "to set the record straight," she recalls the jovial atmosphere on the set, the moleskin suit she wore in the shower, the ingenious publicity campaign for the film, her nomination for an academy award and her ongoing, real-life aversion to showers. Included are conversations with screenwriter Joseph Stefano and others, and fond remembrances of Anthony Perkins and "Mr. Hitchcock." Less compelling is Leigh's bubbly, critical evaluation of the film itself.
— Publishers Weekly

Image Gallery

Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...