With Sacha Gervasi’s film Hitchcock heading to a limited release at the end of November, we’re naturally beginning to see more promotional pieces for it. The first trailer hit not too long ago and now we’ve got the first featurette, focusing on the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife and partner Alma Reville.
The featurette (via First Showing) depicts the loving and complex relationship of Alfred and Alma as director Gervasi and stars Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren view it. It’s an interesting look at the film, dwelling on the romantic aspects of Hitchcock, which focuses on the Master of Suspense working on arguably his most masterful work, Psycho.
I’ve been a huge Hitchcock fan most of my movie-going life, which made me a little apprehensive about this film. Given the Hollywood tendency to turn rumors into lurid realities – see the most recent HBO Hitchcock-based film The Girl for an example – I was not particularly excited to see one of my favorite directors dragged out from behind the camera and shoved into the spotlight. But this might very well convince me differently.
My only qualm is that both director and actors talk about Alma’s influence on Hitchcock’s work as though this has just been discovered. Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the director’s life knows who Alma was, and just how important she was to Hitchcock’s films. Hitch himself never balked at giving her a great deal of the credit – if Alma didn’t like it, Hitch didn’t make it.
So, I’m cautiously optimistic on this one. Like everyone else, I’ll just have to wait and see.
Hitchcock opens in limited release on November 23. Check out the featurette below.
