The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, is appearing in many a headline lately. Nevermind that Platinum Dunes is planning on doing a drunken Irish jig atop his grave with their remake of THE BIRDS (my personal fav of Hitch’s films, hence their designs on that masterpiece disgust me more than Gus Van Sant’s sodomizing of PSYCHO), we’ve now got ourselves not one but two films in the pipeline which plan on showing ‘ol Alfred front and center.
It had long been rumored that Anthony Hopkins would be strapping on a fat suit to portray Hitchcock in a making-of-PSYCHO biopic ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, from director Ryan Murphy (creator of NIP/TUCK). Well, seems that it’s been confirmed by Hannibal the Cannibal himself, in an interview conducted by MTV. (I just like the image of Hopkins wondering the halls of MTV with a wide-eyed glare expressing fascination/absolute horror.) Click it HERE to hear Hopkins describe the strange potential opening to the film, as well as get an earful of his impersonation of The Master. Not too bad, I’ve got to say, and I like the sound of this movie, but I SINCERELY PRAY that Murphy resists the urge to do his own recreating of PSYCHO. If for no other reason than to prove he’s not mentally handicapped.
Don’t forget, this is the second (or the first?) of two dueling Hitchcock projects – the other being a more lighthearted romp starring Dan Fogler as Hitch in his 20s when he was directing his first film, THE NUMBER THIRTEEN (read about that project HERE). It could probably do with a title change, lest people mistake it for an ill-planned prequel to THE NUMBER 23…
Hitch was notoriously disdainful of actors. His best quote on the subject: “I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle.”