October 11, 2012

As I got closer and reached the entrance of the theater, I was taken aback by the dozen or so theatrical one-sheet posters for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho that I’d seen a million times before, but something was off about this version of the iconic image. It wasn’t Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh or Vera Miles displayed on these posters, but instead it was actors James D’Arcy, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel (respectively) in their place.

In front of the theater stands an erected sign that reads “Ticket Holders Only” and as I entered through the lobby, other signs listed the designated set show times, a practice first implemented by Hitchcock for Psycho’s theatrical exhibition and the infamous Hitchcock standee’s encouraging audiences not to share Psycho’s surprises and twists upon exiting the theater. All of the wonderful theatrical gimmicks that we’ve all seen in old news reel footage have been perfectly recreated here for today’s shoot. The only noticeable difference is that the Hitchcock of these promotional materials bares a striking resemblance to esteemed actor Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Yep, here I am at the premiere of the original Psycho, and this is as close as I can ever get to jumping in a time machine and actually being there for this historic moment that originally took place in June of 1960.

It’s the last day of shooting on Hitchcock, the Fox Searchlight feature based upon Stephen Rebello’s best selling book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of PSYCHO. For Hitchcock enthusiasts, we know that Psycho was a major turning point in his life and career, but of all his famous movies and all the equally interesting behind the scenes production stories of all of those, why set this particular bio pic against the backdrop of making Psycho?

Director Sacha Gervasi explains,  “He was coming off of North By Northwest and he really hit the peak of his success in one sense. He was so brilliant at doing these giant, lush, vibrant, colorful fantasy pieces and he was at a certain point in his life where he’s 60 years old and he’s looking around going what else is going on in the world? All these new filmmakers were making movies like Diabolique, very much films on the cutting edge and my feeling is that he thought, people are talking about the new masters of suspense, but they still have the original!”

Producer Alan Barnett agrees, “He was always a little ahead of the curve and he wanted to do something a little different and obviously, he had to jump a lot of hurdles to make that happen [with Psycho]. When you look at what Hitchcock accomplished with this movie and what he saw into the future which was that top directors and talent weren’t doing horror films or slasher films back in those days. By Hitchcock doing this, he ushered in films like The Exorcist, Jaws, Silence of the Lambs where top talent could come in and do these tent pole movies. He was really ahead of the curve in seeing the commercial appeal of the genre.”

While the idea of a Hitchcock bio pic set around the time period that he made Psycho seems like a no-brainer, it was quite a long road that spanned almost a decade to make it here to set today. Of the project’s humble beginnings, producer Tom Pollack tells us, “Alan [Barnette] was the one that had the idea of the movie. He said we should do a movie about Alfred Hitchcock. And I said, nobody will buy it. Its period, it’s dusty, it’s a bio-pic. It’s behind the scenes Hollywood, it’ll take 10 years to get off the ground. And it actually took us about 8 and a half. But he kept seeing it, seeing it and seeing it, and I thought maybe we should find a movie to tell the story against. So we’re not doing a cradle to grave Hitchcock bio. We found the book and in the book was more than the title; there was a real story about Hitchcock and looking over his shoulder at age 60 and all these insecurities. The genesis of Psycho is really interesting. So we optioned the book and I had worked with the writer before on another project, John McLaughlin and he wrote the script and this was the pitch. If Capote can work, if Gods & Monsters can work, if Good Night and Good Luck could work, why can’t Alfred Hitchcock and The Making of Psycho work?”

And although this is his first narrative feature, Gervasi always seems to gravitate toward reality based material with his film work. “Even The Terminal which I scripted was about a real guy. Every story I’ve been involved in whether it’s Anvil or Hitchcock or The Terminal has some kind of prominence because I used to be a journalist so I find people way more fascinating than fantasy and I love the idea of blending fantasy and reality as I think Hitchcock was able to do it so brilliantly. We’re taking that instinct, the idea that he’s quite fantastical, but that’s what made him. Look at Hitchcock as a person. You almost can’t believe that he was real and existed!”

“It was something I thought was important for the movie,” elaborates Gervasi. “For us to have an insight into Hitchcock’s mind in I think an interestedly Hitchcockian way, where it’s in his imagination. He dialogues with Ed Gein but as a fantasy figure, essentially as his shadow. Because Ed Gein inspired the (Robert) Bloch novel and the novel in turn inspired Psycho. So, the idea being that he dialogues with Ed Gein.”

And speaking of casting, producer Pollack reaffirms that through out all the years of development, there was only one name attached as Hitchcock and it was Anthony Hopkins.

“And he was incredibly patient and graceful,” adds Barnette. “It took eight or nine years, but he stuck with us. He always wanted to do the role. He was very supportive of us and we never had a second choice. And what’s interesting about seeing Hopkins on set as Hitchcock is that although he definitely has the presence of the famous director, you can still tell its Hopkins underneath all that make-up. There’s no point in having Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock and then losing Anthony Hopkins in Hitchcock, says Pollack. In terms of working with KNB to get the right look for Hitch, Barnette explains, I think it really started with the prosthetics. We did five camera tests with Hopkins as Hitchcock, almost a full Hitchcock replica, and it was almost too much. He looked exactly like him in initial tests, but you couldn’t get the facial expressions behind the prosthetics, and we decided that less is more. We went back and stripped everything off and just went with jowls and cheeks and padded him out. Tony’s in great shape, so he’s carrying 60 pounds of armor on him. We ended up with a synthesis of the two. I think it was the perfect combination because we can get the expressions in his face, the enunciation of his speech, but it’s still Hopkins and we let him act. Most of the actors did a lot of homework. Scarlett Johansson did with Janet Leigh and certainly Jessica Biel did with Vera Miles. And Helen’s just Helen. She takes over the character. Like Tony, her and Tony have that gift of invisibly moving into the characters that they play and just becoming them.”

“Hopkins came to the audition,” recalls D’Arcy about the casting process. “And Hopkins reaction (to me) was so amazing. I feel like he swayed everybody, because he kept starring at me and then looking over to the producers with a look like why are we looking at anybody else? I started to read the first few lines of the scene and Hopkins fell off his chair laughing; laughing in a really charming way. He gathered himself and said this is uncanny. We read the scene again and the same thing happens, he falls out of his chair laughing. We improvised on for 10 minutes in character. And at that point I thought, if I get the job, great. But if I don’t get the job, at least I got to sit in a room and improvise with Anthony Hopkins for 10 minutes, which was amazing. Right at the end of it, he said to me as Hitchcock what would you do to get this part? And in my Anthony Perkins voice I said, Um, Mister Hitchcock, I’ll do anything to play this role. And he kind of looked at me and stopped being Hitchcock and said in his Hopkins voice, well I think you are going to get it. It was so sweet and that was that. He jumped out of his seat and gave me a huge hug before I left. And I’d never met him before that! He’s an amazing human being.”

Before I leave set for the evening, producer Alan Barnette invites me over to the monitors to watch the scene they’re currently shooting. It’s a beautiful dolly shot that starts at the marquee of the theater which reads Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO and then pans down to a huge line of people eagerly waiting outside the theater. A limo pulls up and out exits Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock followed by Helen Mirren as Alma and Toni Collette who plays Hitchcock’s assistant Peggy Robertson. Hitch takes his wife’s hand and begins walking past the screaming crowd into the lobby of the theater relishing only for a moment in his triumph to what will later be considered his most famous film. The story of Hitchcock, the movie is the turbulent road to get to this final victorious moment and for me personally, I can’t wait to watch it all unfold on the big screen.

Robert Galluzzo directed The Psycho Legacy which can now be found on DVD.