''Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho'' is a 1990 non-fiction book by
Stephen Rebello
Stephen Rebello is an American writer, screenwriter, journalist and former clinical therapist.
Early life
Born to parents of third-generation Portuguese American and French American, French-Portuguese American extraction in Fall River, Massachu ...
. It details the creation of director Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller '' Psycho''. The 2012 American
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by Sacha Gervasi, based on this non-fiction book is titled ''
Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
''. The film was released on November 23, 2012.
The book was first published on April 15, 1990, by Dembner Books, and distributed by W. W. Norton & Company. Stephen Rebello researched the film thoroughly through Hitchcock's personal records and archives and he interviewed virtually every surviving cast and crew member. Prior to the book's publication, Rebello's initial research appeared as a 22-page article in the April 1986 issue of ''
Cinefantastique
''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine.
History
The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor ...
'' magazine entitled "Psycho: The Making of Alfred Hitchcock's Masterpiece". That research was expanded for the book version.
Synopsis
The book details Hitchcock's acquisition of the original novel by Robert Bloch to his work with two different screenwriters, casting, filming, editing, scoring, and promotion. ''Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho'' shows the daily lives of the filmmakers, who believed they were making a modestly budgeted, black-and-white shocker, representing a radical departure from the elegant, suspenseful films that had made director Hitchcock's reputation, including ''
Rope
A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similar ...
'', ''
Rear Window
''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...
North by Northwest
''North by Northwest'' is a 1959 American spy thriller film, produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture ...
''.
The project, which Hitchcock tackled in part to compete with financially successful, low-budget, youth-oriented horror movies, went on to astound many by becoming a cultural watershed, an international box-office success, a film classic, and a forerunner of the violent, disorienting films and real-events of the turbulent 1960s and '70s.
Publication history
''Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho'' was initially distributed in hardcover print by W.W. Norton for Dembner Books on April 15, 1990, in the United States. A trade paperback edition was released in the United States in 1998 by St. Martin's Griffin. Subsequently, the book has been published in hardcover and paperback by Marion Boyars Limited in Great Britain and Australia. It has also been published in translated international editions in Japan by Byakuya Shobo, France, Germany, and in Italy by Il Castoro. The book has since become a standard and continues to be used in film studies classes on director Alfred Hitchcock.
In 2010, Open Road Media launched the first
e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
version of the book, which in 2013 was re-published in a motion picture tie-in edition in the U.S.. The book has been re-published in early 2013 in the England, Italy and Japan, as well as published for the first time in Brazil, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Korea, and China. The same year,
Blackstone Audio
Blackstone Audio is one of the largest independent audiobook publishers in the United States, offering over 30,000 audiobooks. The company is based in Ashland, Oregon with five in-house recording studios. Blackstone distributes directly to consu ...
released an unabridged audiobook narrated by Paul Michael Garcia and, subsequently, by
Richard Powers
Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel '' The Echo Maker'' won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction.Richard Schickel called the book "indispensable and marvelously readable" and "one of the best accounts of the making of an individual movie we've ever had". Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' declared it a "meticulous history of a single film production". Anthony Quinn in ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' wrote that "
he book
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
combines a gossipy retrospective with a serious work of criticism, presenting an articulate guide to Hitchcock's idiosyncratic approach to film-making and the collaborative efforts that underpinned it. The author has conducted interviews with all those involved in the making of ''Psycho'' – its casting, scripting, art design, lighting, editing, selling – in the course of it, we inch closer to the bizarre, unpredictable quality of its director".
The critic for
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
called the book "wonderful" and observed, "Stephen Rebello makes reading about ''Psycho'' almost as much fun as watching it". ''Psycho'' star
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influentia ...
called the book a "meticulously researched and irresistible ... Required reading not only for ''Psycho''-philes, but for anyone interested in the backstage world of movie-creation". Images Journal reviewer Gary Johnson called it "one of the best books ever written about the making of a movie". Gerald Kaufman of ''
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
'' found it "joyously entertaining".
''Entertainment Weekly'', referring to Rebello's revealing how Hitchcock arrived at the sound of the knife stabbing the heroine in the shower, opined "the melon tale alone is worth the price of
he book
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
. Another top critic wrote that, unlike other books about films and filmmakers, it "reads more like a gripping novel than detached intellectualism".
In a January 6, 2010 ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' story called "The Mother of All Horror Films", Malcolm Jones called the book "fascinating".
Robert Graysmith
Robert Graysmith (born Robert Gray Smith; September 17, 1942) is an American true crime author and former cartoonist. He is known for his work on the Zodiac killer case.
Career
Graysmith worked as a political cartoonist for the ''San Francisc ...
, true crime author of the non-fiction book ''
Zodiac
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...
'' described the book as "groundbreaking ... the most faithful, comprehensive and first book on the filming of Hitchcock’s masterpiece, the bedrock upon which all Psycho mansions are erected".
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...
, in his "Movie Crazy" blog entry of October 29, 2010, called the book a "landmark". In 2012, a writer for ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' declared the book "a masterpiece about a masterpiece". ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' critic John Patterson called the book "enthralling" and, on February 1, 2013, in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described the book as "revelatory". David Pitt of Booklist wrote: "There are a handful of Hitchcock biographies—Donald Spoto's ''The Dark Side of Genius'' and Patrick McGilligan's ''Alfred Hitchcock'', among them—but here, though focusing on a single film, Rebello offers a close-up look at the director that is perhaps more revelatory about the man's character and working style than any full-length biography. A wonderful, absolutely essential book".
Table of contents
*Foreword
*The Awful Truth
*The Trouble with Alfred
*The Novel
*The Director
*The Deal
*The Screenplays
*Pre-production
*Shooting
*Post-production
*Publicity
*The Release
*Afterglow and Aftermath
*Cast and Credits
*The Films of Alfred Hitchcock
*A Note on Sources
*Selected Bibliography
*Index
Film adaptation
A film adaptation based upon the book was made. The film is directed by Sacha Gervasi and stars
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...
as director Alfred Hitchcock, Helen Mirren as his wife
Alma Reville
Alma Lucy Reville, Lady Hitchcock (14 August 1899 – 6 July 1982), was an English director, editor, and screenwriter. She was the wife of the film director Alfred Hitchcock. She collaborated on scripts for her husband's films, including '' Sha ...
,
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...
as
Janet Leigh
Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...
,
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Timberlake ( née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress and model. She has received various accolades, including a Young Artist Award, and nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Bie ...
as
Vera Miles
Vera June Miles ( née Ralston, born August 23, 1929) is an American retired actress who worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock, most notably as Lila Crane in the classic 1960 film '' Psycho'', reprising the role in the 1983 sequel '' Psycho II ...
, and
James D'Arcy
James D'Arcy (born Simon Richard D'Arcy; 24 August 1975) is an English actor and film director. He is known for his portrayals of Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series '' Agent Carter'' and the ...
as
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influentia ...
. Produced by
The Montecito Picture Company
The Montecito Picture Company is a film production company co-owned by Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock. It is located on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California, United States. Montecito is a city in California in Santa Barbara County.
H ...
and distributed by
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century Stu ...
, the film was released in 17 U.S. cities on November 23, 2012.