Anthony Hopkins: Alfred Hitchcock In New Movie?

This could be a Psycho-good casting call.

Modern-day psycho-horror legend Anthony Hopkins is in negotiations to play the original master, Alfred Hitchcock, in a new non-fiction movie about the director's life and film career. The Hollywood Reporter relays that Hopkins is talking to production company Montecito to star in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Rebello's 1998 book, 'Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.'

The book focuses on the story of Hitchcock's decision to make the now-famous horror movie and the struggle he had to finance and get support for the film. The script, which was written by 'Black Swan' scribe John Laughlin and which Sacha Gervasi is in talks to direct, may concentrate more on his relationship with his wife, Alma Reville.

Hopkins of course has great experience in the creepy horror genre, winning an Academy Award for his role as Hannibal Lecter in 'Silence of the Lambs,' and reprising the part for a number of sequels. He's now appearing in the Satanic-horror 'The Rite,' set to release next week.

He may have to gain weight to play the famously plump Hitchcock -- Hopkins recently lost 75 pounds and adheres to a strict diet and workout regimen.

For more, click over to The Hollywood Reporter.

Comments

[gruben]

02:42 PM on 01/24/2011

So many errors in this story. Stephen Rebello’s book was published in 1990. That’s pretty easy to Google. I also read John McLaughlin's early screenplay draft. But it was the more recent drafts written by Stephen Rebello, dated as late as January of last year, that made Hitchcock’s relationship with his wife a big focal point.

[LMPE]

04:36 PM on 01/23/2011

I like the sound of this

[Master Bates]

04:13 PM on 01/23/2011

Hopkins would be Psycho not to take those 39 Steps in this Spellbound opportunity. Unless Rebecca is trying to Blackmail him somewhere North by Northwest in which she threatens to Dial M for Murder if he doesnt take the Rope, er role! A role this size might give him Vertigo, but if he stays away from that Rear Window...he should be ok! All I know, is IF he takes this role...he will be the Man who Knew Too Much! ;)

[LMPE]

04:35 PM on 01/23/2011

One thing's for certain: this role isn't for The Birds.

fanned

[Master Bates]

10:41 PM on 01/23/2011

Thanks for the great sense of humor! Fanned as well :)

[stape45]

01:41 AM on 01/23/2011

If anyone can play that AH, it's this AH!

[stape45]

01:43 AM on 01/23/2011

I have yet to see the role Anthony Hopkins can't handle.

[interlude]

05:17 AM on 01/23/2011

Nice catch.

[kenhamlett]

11:51 PM on 01/22/2011

Excellent casting. Mrs. Hitchcock, who wrote and worked on almost all his films, should be just as interesting as "Hitch," so it will be interesting to see who gets that roll, also.

[Winstonoboogie]

11:04 PM on 01/22/2011

Sounds like a fun bit of casting and great subject matter. If Hopkins can play Richard Nixon convincingly he can certainly play Hitchcock!

[Puller58]

10:30 PM on 01/22/2011

Hopkins is supposed to be good at impressions.  (When a scene in a film with Tony Curtis and Lawrence Oliver was discovered, it had no soundtrack, and Oliver was dead.  They asked who could do Oliver, and his widow said Hopkins, so he did the dialogue.)  Not sure this is a great role for Hopkins since Hitchcock was a characature more than a person.

[JayMonaco]

10:23 AM on 01/23/2011

He was?

[SkippyJiffy]

10:19 PM on 01/22/2011

Great pick!

[Widespread Panic]

09:47 PM on 01/22/2011

I think he can easily pull it off. But I may be biased as I love, love Anthony Hopkins. :) He's an exceptional actor.

[The-JuRK]

08:38 PM on 01/22/2011

I'm in. This sounds great.

[Jdaddy1951]

08:31 PM on 01/22/2011

A movie about Hitchcock, especially one starring Anthony Hoplkins, could be an interesting enterprise. Hitch was a product of a Catholic upbringing in Edwardian England. His movies reflect his obsession with repressed sexuality and most of his leading ladies --- Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh, Tippi Hedren --- represented his ideal heroine: A cool blonde who becomes a tigress behind the safety of bedroom doors.

The making of "Psycho" is an interesting choice, because it's all about sex and all about Hitch's fetishes. The making of "The Birds" and "Marnie", the two films which followed "Psycho" would be even more interesting, because it was clear that Tippi Hedren, a mostly unknown actress, was being used by Hitch, much as Svengali used Trilby or Henry Higgins used Eliza Doolittle. He wanted to mold Hedren into HIS version of Grace Kelly, his most idealized actress, and Hedren rebelled against his domineering obsession with her.

Hitchcock's closest collaborator for many years was Alma Reville, his wife, who was a dowdy, dumpy, sensible woman who did not fit his sexual fantasy.

Hitch was probably the greatest director of films ever --- certainly you have to look to people like John Ford or Akira Kurosawa to find comparable dominant figures. That's why his films --- even a silent film like "The Lodger," which is about Jack the Ripper --- hold up to modern scrutiny and are still being studied by film buffs, scholars and students. I hope this film gets made.

[Puller58]

10:36 PM on 01/22/2011

Hitchcock's focus was the camera.  He made use of such things as 3D without the usual throw stuff at the audience.  In "Rope", he shot a full camera's worth of film that ran 14 minutes, and he had to have the actors back up to the camera in order to avoid editting.  His camera angles were always different from film to film, and another example of that would be "Read Window."  As for actors, he didn't do "direction."  He once said that once the storyboards were done, he could have just gone home and let the AD shoot the movie.  His time on "Alfred Hitchcock" presents gave audiences the impression of the man that most people remember.  He directed a handful of the episodes, and took pride in coming in on time, and under budget.  I don't know that Hopkins will be best served by doing him.  When Clint Eastwood played a thinly disguised version of John Huston shooting the African Queen, it didn't work out well.  But we'll see.

[Jdaddy1951]

11:24 PM on 01/22/2011

Hopkins as Hitchcock will either be a grand success or a grand failure, but undoubtedly it will be interesting. I have so many favorites among Hitchcock's films: "Rear Window;" "Shadow of a Doubt;" "Strangers on a Train;" "Lifeboat". "Rope" is a noble experiment, not entirely successful, but worth seeing a couple of times for the technique involved. "Psycho" and "The Birds" are among his most popular successes, and what he is best known for among general audiences. But there's so much other wonderful work he put on film --- even in lesser works like "Stage Fright" and the remake of "The Man Who Knew Too Much", which got a very good dramatic performance out of Doris Day.

[FTracy3]

11:18 PM on 01/22/2011

You obviously know your Hitchcock. The Rebello book was good but there wasn't anything particularly dramatic or challenging (other than technically) about making Psycho..Extremely interesting, yes. And I'd hate to see a Hitchcock partial bio that dwells on some of the speculation and pseudoanalysis in Donald Spoto's books. Grace Kelley, Tippi Hedren (in spite of the conflict and rumored attempted seduction), , Ingrid Bergman, Janet Leigh (she continued to call him "Mr. Hitchcock" in interviews until her death) all remained very respectful of him, in spite of the salacious stories that were rumored about his interest in or attentions to some of his leading ladies. I'd just hate to see him portrayed in a bad light when he's not around to defend himself.

[Jdaddy1951]

05:13 AM on 01/23/2011

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[Jdaddy1951]

05:13 AM on 01/23/2011

The best book on Hitchcock is Francois Truffaut's interview with Hitchcock, which came out in the 1960s, just after "Torn Curtain." It does not discuss his final three films, "Topaz," "Frenzy," and "Family Plot." But everything else is covered, in Hitchcock's own words. It was my introduction to Hitchcock's films, and as a result, I think I've seen everything he's made, including some of the lesser-known British films. It is notable for his dry, almost-silence on certain subjects he was not pleased to be discussing ("I've never won an Oscar" is all he says, when Truffaut points out that "Rebecca" was chosen Best Picture in 1940. It's obvious that some films are less interesting to him because he was disappointed in the actors, such as "Saboteur" (Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane) and "Stage Fright" (Jane Wyman). But his favorite films --- such as "Shadow of a Doubt," "Rear Window", and "North by Northwest" are often because they have sympathetic villains (Joseph Cotten, Raymond Burr, and James Mason, respectively).

[mmsuki]

06:00 PM on 01/22/2011

How about the great English actor, Timothy Spall?

[p c r]

05:58 PM on 01/22/2011

Hopkins is a phenomenal actor and could do any role credit. Makeup and fat suits can give him the heftier look without having to gain to an unhealthy weight. I look forward to the film, if it actually gets made.

[mmsuki]

05:58 PM on 01/22/2011

Please don't do this, Tony----at your age, gaining all that weight would not be healthy.

[dartagnan]

06:03 PM on 01/22/2011

He won't gain the weight -- he'll just wear a fat suit.

[yuckyor76]

04:59 PM on 01/22/2011

Ray Winstone would be a perfect Hitchcock they both have/had that nasal sounding voice.