Eh..... Anthony Hopkins does not disappear in the role I imagined him doing (say what you want about not fitting the physical build of Nixon, he nailed the voice and mannerisms). Helen Mirren as Alma looks like the most interesting thing in the picture. Trailer on Hitchcock during the making of Psycho
There's just something that seems less than thrilling about the narrative in this trailer.
We all know "Psycho" was a smash hit and is one of the all-time classics of the genre.
The trick would be to make us feel and understand what was at stake getting it made in that era. I'm just not feeling "the gamble" in this trailer. It's stagey, and orderly, and nobody is really sweating over it. They just seem to be telling us what happened with occasionally raised voices.
A rich, famous director mortgages his house to fund the production of an unorthodox film. The movie becomes a big hit and a classic.
I was reminded of "1776," of all things, while I watched this. Even if we all know how that story turns out, the creative team involved still managed to make it a nail-biter.
Hopefully, the movie builds the tension and sequence of events better than the trailer does.
I think I was hoping they would just use this storyline as a framework to tell Hitchcock's entire life story, with many flashbacks (childhood, Europe, early films, Hollywood, etc.) all leading up to this moment. That may very well be in the movie, but it's not in the trailer. And alone, I don't feel this story is compelling enough.
I, for one, was pleasantly surprised by the trailer. Looks really fun and much lighter than I would've expected. Hopkins, Mirren and Johannson all look and sound fantastic.
The studio bumped up the film's release to mid-November-- a clear sign that they see this movie as having some major awards potential.
Roscoe, if the movie reflects its source--the good non fiction read Hitchcock And the Making of Psycho, it won't be a hatchet job at all, and will aknowledge his huge talent. If you're worried about that, I'd worry more about The Girl, the telefilm about him and Tippi on HBO this month.
Ha! It's telling that I actually saw the Psycho remake in theatres, and I remember NOTHING about it except that I found some of the casting odd, and that Anne Heche had earbuds in at one scene (well in general I found the attempts to slightly update some elements--the amount of money being another--made the fact that it was a shot for shot remake and so seemed fairly tame by modern standards work even less well).
It was actually Julianne Moore with the headphones...she had a walkman. Not that it matters but it's one of the only things I remember about the remake too. That and the cuts to a cow during the shower the scene.
That one masturbation scene ruined the remake for me, although I never understood why the remake needed to be made. The audience needs to notice and take to heart Norman's childlike innocence for the twist to be the most effective.
Ha, I guess I remembered it even less than I thought I did--I just remembered the headphones. I do remember, now how horribly out of place (and obvious) the masturbation bit was.
But it all is very odd--if Gus made the film, as I believe he claimed, as sorta an experiment--to replicate the original with modern cameras, etc, then why add just a few random "updates"? (Of course, the real question is why bother anyway, but given his explanation it seems even more strange).
Speaking of Norman, I find it interesting there was just one shot of James D'Arcy (in a scene with ScarJo as Janet Leigh taking direction from Hitch) as Anthony Perkins in the trailer.
I read the Bloch book, back as a teen. It is vastly different (the trailer mentions the decapitation), and I remember thinking it was badly written, but I was a snobby teen who thought most books were badly written. :P I have it kicking around somewhere, and should read it again... The only other thing I remember is Leigh's character has a lot more interaction with Norman (probably one reason it was so shocking that she's killed off so early in the movie).
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joined:12/8/09
Posted: 10/10/12 at 02:05pm