“I’m married to a man obsessed with murder,” says Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) in the trailer for Hitchcock, referring to her director husband Alfred (Anthony Hopkins). Hitchcock may not have been obsessed with straight-up murder, but as the first look of the biopic suggests, he was quite taken by murder movies. That, and scaring the crap out of the people around him.
Directed by Sacha Gervasi (Anvil: The Story of Anvil), Hitchcock chronicles the North by Northwest and The Bird director’s bumpy, tumultuous road to the making of his classic horror film Psycho. Hitchcock put his life on the line for the film, mortgaging his house and risking his integrity in Hollywood to make a movie that butted heads with the convention of the times. As production moved along, he became more and more obsessed with making the movie on his own terms. Along with his strained marriage, Hitch also lost himself in the process, as evidenced by his willingness to come after actress Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) with a knife, just for the scare.
Gervasi has a twisted sense of humor, and it’s on full display in Hitchcock. But is the film something more than a behind-the-scenes look at an infamous Hollywood production? Hitchcock contends with The Girl, a Hitchcock biopic that is airing on HBO later this month. The two take wildly different approaches: The Girl delving into Hitch’s sexual predator nature, Hichcock portraying him as an artist under the pressures of the business. We were quite satisfied by The Girl, but if Hichcock varies enough in tone while still adding to the complex nature of its lead character, the two can easily stand side by side.
Hitchcock opens November 23, 2012 — prime real estate for Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren to mount Oscar campaigns. Watch the trailer below, then check out the trailer for Psycho, a unique spot that Hitchcock actually introduced personally. Compare and contrast the real Hitch and his big screen counterpart!
Follow Matt Patches on Twitter @misterpatches
[Photo Credit: Fox Searchlight]
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