After the travesty that was the 1998 version of ‘Psycho’, I doubt there’s any Hollywood studio willing to remake Hitchcock’s classic again. But how about a movie about how ‘Psycho’ was made? There is a film version on the way based on the novel from Stephen Rebello, ‘Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho’. The film adaptation will be directed by Sacha Gervasi (‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’), based on a screenplay from Rebello and John McLaughlin (‘Black Swan’).
The casting of ‘Making of Psycho’ is already off to a stellar start with two Academy Award winning actors in the primary roles. Athony Hopkins (‘Silence of the Lambs’) will be playing the title role of Hitchcock, while Helen Mirren (‘The Queen’) will be on board as Hitchcock’s wife Alma. Variety reported late yesterday that Scarlett Johansson (‘The Avengers’) is now cast in the role of original ‘Psycho’ star Janet Leigh and James D’Arcy (‘Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’) will be playing Anthony Perkins, the original Norman Bates.
‘The Making of Psycho’ follows the struggle that Hitchcock went through to make his 1960 masterpiece. At the apex of his career, Hitchcock was having trouble finding funding for ‘Psycho’ since investors thought the director mad for attempting a horror film this late in his career. Undeterred, Hitchcock made the movie anyway, cutting corners by doing things like using television cameras instead of normal film equipment. All of this is aided by Hitchcock’s wife who was a sounding board, advisor, and collaborator behind the scenes of many of his films.
If it’s done well, and with that cast and crew, I don’t see how it couldn’t be, ‘Making of Psycho’ could end up being a real treat!
