To play perhaps the most instantly
recognizable filmmaker of all time, the team behind Fox Searchlight's shocking
drama “Hitchcock” thought there was no one better for the job than Academy
Award winner Anthony Hopkins.
Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight |
Hopkins
is perhaps best known for his own unforgettably dark turn as a manipulative
psychopath, Hannibal Lecter, who helped in the capture of a sophisticated,
modern-day relation to Norman Bates, Buffalo Bill, in “The Silence of the
Lambs.” But his prolific roster of roles -- from “The Elephant Man” and
“Remains of the Day” to “Nixon” and “Shadowlands” -- reveals a broad
versatility to embody the most complex personalities.
“I've
always been fascinated by Hitchcock,” said Hopkins. “My first professional job
was in the theatre in 1960 in Manchester and I remember going to the movies and
`Psycho' was playing in Manchester. I went to see the movie on a Sunday night
in October 1960 and I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. It was
maybe the greatest movie I've seen up to that point in my life. `Rear Window'
and `Psycho' are my two favorite movies.”
“Hitchcock”
is the true-story behind the difficult production of the famed director's
classic thriller “Psycho”, which brings insight to Hitchcock's fascination with
the real-life serial killer who served as the inspiration for Norman Bates.
Director
Sacha Gervasi notes that he wasn’t looking at all for some kind of uncanny
physical resemblance to Hitchcock, but rather, for someone who could bring
forth something more subtle and vital: the humanity running beneath his
well-known genius, quirks and cutting humor.
“We
didn’t want someone to just impersonate Hitchcock, that was important from the
beginning,” Gervasi explains. “It was really about revealing the spirit of the
man and Anthony Hopkins is a master of doing that with iconic characters, from
Richard Nixon to Pablo Picasso to CS Lewis. When you see him as Hitchcock, it
takes a moment to adjust to it, but his power as an actor is so deep that,
within a few sentences, you become completely embedded in Tony Hopkins’ version
of Hitchcock. There are very few actors in the world capable of doing that. He
was really the only actor who I felt could pull it off. In fact, I told the
producers that if we couldn’t get him we shouldn’t bother making the movie at
all.”
Hopkins
agrees that his performance exists on a razor-thin line, one that had to
balance the idea of illuminating Hitchcock without doubling him. “I wouldn’t
say ‘I become Hitchcock’. I don’t do that, because I’d go mad,” Hopkins muses.
“You can’t become anyone, but you just try to find a way to balance it so as to
not make a caricature. I felt Sacha had unlocked the story that no one else had
previously done.”
Hopkins
says his preparation for the role goes way back to 1960 when he himself first
saw “Psycho” as a young actor in England and became a Hitchcock fan for life.
He continued following his films, and even met Hitchcock briefly, but it was
reading the “Hitchcock” script that brought him deeper into the man. “The
script gave me a lot of the information that I needed,” he notes, “and then I watched
several documentaries and films on Hitchcock and began putting together all the
pieces.”
Those
pieces added up to a man who Hopkins says is an utter paradox. “He can be dark,
troubled, cold, ruthless and obsessive and also big-hearted, warm and
ingenious,” notes Hopkins. “That was all part of his nature.”
“Hitchcock” is exclusive at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide.
Moviegoers can catch the film at Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3, Trinoma, Alabang
Town Center, Market! Market!, Ayala Center Cebu, Marquee (Central Luzon),
Abreeza (Davao), Harbor Point (Subic) and Centrio (Cagayan de Oro).
No comments:
Post a Comment