[Movies] Hitchcock Director Talks About Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel Playing Janet Leigh And Vera Miles
Posted by Joseph Lee on 10.09.2012
They embodied the characters...
People spoke with Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johansson about their roles of Vera Miles and Janet Leigh, respectively, in Hitchcock.
The film focuses on director Alfred Hitchcock's life and marriage at the time he was making the 1960 film Psycho. Director Sacha Gervasi said: "When we took that still of Scarlett behind the wheel and put it up against the still of Janet behind the wheel in Psycho, it was eerie. The extent to which Scarlett was able to channel Janet [was] a real surprise. She brought it in such a way that no one really anticipated."
He also commented on how Biel was made up to look like Miles. At the time of Psycho, Hitchcock was angry with Biel for dropping out of Vertigo to have a baby. Gervasi added: "Hitchcock dressed her up in a wig and did everything could to make the beautiful Vera Miles look frumpy. What Hitch tried to do to Vera we tried to do to Jessica, and the results were equally ridiculous. It is not possible to make Jessica Biel dowdy."
Gervasi also said that the shower scene in Psycho (in which Leigh's character was killed by Norman Bates) will have a different approach, as it will be shown from Hitchcock's point of view. The original sequence took a week to shoot, Gervasi said that "ours took considerably less.
Anthony Hopkins stars as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren plays his wife and creative collaborator Alma. The film will be released on November 23.
