NYTimes: There is a scene in “The Girl” — as well as in the Donald Spoto book it’s based on — in which (Director Alfred) Hitchc0ck informs you that you are to be sexually available to him any time, any place. How do you even respond to that?
Tippi Hedren: I said, I’ve got to get out of the contract. He said, I’ll ruin your career. And he did. He wouldn’t let me out of the contract. I’d be a really big star if he hadn’t stopped my career. There were so many people who wanted me for their films. All he said was, “She isn’t available.” That’s a mean, mean man.
I had the pleasure of seeing her at the Castro Theater a few years ago for THE BIRDS and MARNIE double feature. She said during her interview that the best years of her life were spent working with "Hitch", as she affectionately called him. She talked about hard it was for her to film the bench park scene but he was there to walk her through it.
I know people wear different masks, but if "Hitch" was this awful man, why lie about it for so long? Why praise him one night and rake him over the coals the second?
(I met her between shows and she was delightful. Looked great up close, too. My only complaint is that she shilled out her African animal sanctuary too much.)
Jungle Red, perhaps she was holding her tongue that night because she was spokesperson for the film? That's just a guess. I have no idea. I don't know what's true, but the stories of him tormenting Tippi Hedren are lot older than this new movie.
Edited to add - I think this comment from the article might explain it a little bit, when she says she went to his funeral. You don’t get it. He ruined my career, but he didn’t ruin my life. That time of my life was over. I still admire the man for who he was.
I qualified my original post with "if true" in the spirit of fairness since the other Party is no longer around to defend himself.
I'm no kind of entertainment Insider, and I've not previously encountered stories of Hitchcock's treatment of Hedren or other Actors.
If she can truthfully say that he "destroyed" her career, but didn't "ruin" her life and that she can still admire him for his talent--my hat is off to her. She has a generous and compassionate spirit.
"On the set of this film, Hitchcock’s behaviour started to become increasingly uncontrolled. Diane Baker played a supporting role in Marnie, and remembers Hitch’s erratic and offensive behaviour: “One day, he came into my dressing room. He closed the door behind him – he didn’t say anything – walked across to me, put his arms around me and planted a kiss, hard, right on my mouth. It wasn’t a friendly or a fatherly kiss, and I was shocked. I didn’t say anything. I grabbed a tissue, wiped my lips and then wiped my make-up off his lips. I went to the door and opened it, and, still without a word, he left.” (184) Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren: A Tale of Obsession
Did anyone see The Girl on HBO? I thought the recreation of the filming of that infamous scene in The Birds was pretty terrifying. Scarier than anything in his movies.
I was just about to ask if anyone saw it. It thought it looked good aesthetically, but I didn't think it was particularly illuminating about anything, except to waste great actresses like Imelda Staunton and Penelope Wilton.
I like Sienna Miller a lot, but there was something about her in this that I didn't like. Maybe it was her accent, which she didn't always seem to have a handle on?
I agree...The Girl looked fantastic but lacked substance. I would have liked if they explored Hitchcock's marriage more. Partly because Imelda Stauton gave such a great performance. I also would have liked to see how other actors on set reacted to how Tippi was being treated. Did they know? I did think the attic scene was super effective and chilling. It made me anxious even though I knew what was coming.
The movie felt very repetitive; Tippi has a small moment of triump, then Hitch finds a way to humiliate her, and she gathers her strength and carries on. Repeat for 91 minutes.
Slant found value in it: "Early on in The Girl, which probes the relationship between Alfred Hitchcock (Toby Jones) and his leading lady, Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller), the esteemed director gives his screenwriter a piece of advice: The audience doesn't want a character they can identify with; they want glamour. That HBO's new film manages to heed Hitchcock's recommendation without being nearly as enjoyable as any of his films could be seen as a failing, but in fact, it's a deliberate and somewhat remarkable accomplishment. This is Hedren's film, told through her eyes, and in spite of all the glamorous costumes and set pieces, it succeeds at being a thoroughly harrowing exposé of Hollywood patriarchy run amok."
I enjoyed it but wanted so much more, it just felt like it had more of a story to tell but instead spent 90 mins saying the same thing. The recreation of The Birds attic scene was fantastic
Saw it last night. Agree that it erred on the side of being too minimalist in its scope, but was still compelling.
Sienna Miller was too full bodied visually and vocally as Hedren. "Tippi" has a small very reedy voice with no resonance and a little bit of that child-like sound that her daughter has. Her features are also exceedingly fine, which adds to a certain fragile crystal impression when you put together the voice and physical presence.
OPINION ONLY:
Although she insists Hitchcock destroyed her career, there is ample evidence in both The Birds and Marnie that she had very limited skills as an actress. Even if she had had a perfectly fine relationship with Hitchcock, I'm not so sure she would have had any type of significant career after those films.
In both movies she's usually ok when Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy, Diane Baker or Sean Connery are leading the way.
But whenever she has a big scen where she's front and center, I find her to be very uneasy, with an unpleasant vocal delivery. Her reverting to a child in front of her mother in Marnie is cringe inducing, as is her denunciation of her mother to Rod Taylor in The Birds: "My Mother, don't make me laugh!" must have been take 72 and still sounded synthetic.
She was too brittle and distant on screen, even in random TV appearances. I do think she is a case of an attractive model suited for that job.
The fact that both movies worked as well as they did is a testament to the villian of The Girl: the director.
I don't exactly disagree with anything you said about Tippi's acting skills, GoSmile. Still, it's not like she had a chance to hone and develop her talent, away from Hitchcock. Kim Novak was not a very good actress in the first few years of her career, either. Tippi sort of reminds me a bit of someone like Liv Tyler (or even maybe Brooke Shields before she became an experienced stage performer) onscreen. She's okay in the more relaxed, playful scenes, and unconvincing in the more emotionally challenging ones.
I would probably give an uneasy performane too if I had been trapped on a set being attacked by live birds for a week. Or if I was being sexually harrassed by the director.
That was not a performance of someone who was having troubles with a director (or Birds) it was someone who was a model who went in to acting. I am not saying she was terrible, i adore both of those films, but both performances were very flawed, in time she may have grown in to a very strong actress but sadly (whatever the reason) we never found out.
Well the fact that Hitchcock did not let her leave Universal studios when presumably other studios/directors were calling, allegedly, does seem to show a real hindrance he had on her career. She also started 'late' (nowadays not really seen as a problem of talent, like Jon Hamm breaking out in his late 30s) and back then, actresses had an expiration date on them- still do today but this was also a studio system atmosphere she was knee-deep in. Most of the Hitchcock Blondes had a film career before doing his films. He was also toward the end of his career and was always a bizarre character but it would not be surprising that he took an more hard turn mentally, given Baker seemed to have a similar but not as extreme experience.
Some film directors are just sadists or have a power imbalance over leading ladies. Even if we like their movies does not mean we cannot separate art from artist. Hitch was at best a director with a twisted sense of humor and creation and a major misogynist.
Tippi is actually one of my favorites of the Hitchcock blondes (solely for The Birds since I only saw Marnie a couple of years ago while The Birds was one of my 'saw at an impressionable age' films) but I actually cannot say I have disliked a Hitchcock blonde performance. I even liked Carole Lombard in Mr. and Mrs. Smith!
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joined:5/17/12
Posted: 10/6/12 at 05:44pm