Troubled backstory of ‘Psycho’ comes to forefront in ‘Hitchcock’
In “Hitchcock,” director Sacha Gervasi recounts the troubled production of “Psycho” when the famed filmmaker, played by Anthony Hopkins, defied Hollywood’s conventional wisdom to make the most graphic thriller of his career.
“Hitchcock was feeling the nip of young filmmakers like Claude Chabrol and Henri-Georges Clouzot at his feet,” Gervasi explains. “Clouzot’s ‘Les Diabolique’ essentially catalyzed a new movement of suspense filmmakers, and I think at this point in his life, Hitchcock was feeling, ‘My God, I’ve got to reinvent myself to feel relevant again.’ ”
Conservative studio bosses declined to fund “Psycho” despite the director’s track record.
“Hitchcock in 1959 is one of the most powerful directors in the world,” says Gervasi, who as a film student at UCLA studied the suspense master’s work. “Yet, when he wants to make ‘Psycho,’ everybody thought, ‘This is beneath him. He should keep doing lush, fantastical epic romances like “North by Northwest” and “To Catch a Thief.” ’ ” Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville (portrayed in the film by
Helen Mirren), financed “Psycho” by using their Beverly Hills mansion as collateral. Adding to the stress: Hitchcock flirted with “Psycho” star Janet Leigh ( Scarlett Johansson).
“We deal with Hitchcock’s voyeurism, his obsessions with his leading ladies, his predilections to fantasize, but not because we wanted to sensationalize any of that,” Gervasi says. “What we wanted to do was encompass all of these complex contradictions.”
Gervasi, who made his directorial debut with the heavy-metal music documentary “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” adds, “Hitchcock’s persona is very droll, very dry. I was fascinated by the idea of doing an emotional film about someone who was so enigmatic.”
From the outset, Gervasi and Hopkins envisioned Mirren in the role of Reville. The story required an actress of substance to dramatize the role that Hitchcock’s wife played in his life and work.
“I see ‘Hitchcock’ as not a historical document so much as it is about emotional truth,” Gervasi says. “The film takes a look at how people sometimes get so caught up in their own obsessions and selfish desires that they miss the beauty and the strength that’s right in front of their noses. For me, the message of the film is that no matter how bad a relationship gets, people who hang in there have a chance to put everything back together.”