Trivia / Hitchcock

• Dueling Works: With HBO's The Girl, which dealt with Hitchcock's subsequent project The Birds - and another blonde starlet to obsess over.
• Fake American: The British James D'Arcy plays the American actor Anthony Perkins.
• Playing with Character Type: James D'Arcy usually plays sleazy villains. In this, he plays an actor who's cast as one.
• Reality Subtext: Anthony Hopkins was once introduced to Alfred Hitchcock in a restaurant, as the movie depicts happening with Janet Leigh.
• Starring a Star as a Star: Star actresses Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel are cast as star actresses Janet Leigh and Vera Miles, respectively. Likewise, noted character actor James D'Arcy as Anthony Perkins.
• What Could Have Been:
  • More scenes were written for Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles but weren't filmed.
  • Andrew Garfield was offered the role of Anthony Perkins, but he was busy appearing in Death of a Salesman on Broadway. Also considered were Ben Barnes, Tom Felton, Jack Huston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jackson Rathbone.
  • Ed Gein was included in the original screenplay. In subsequent drafts, the role of Gein was either eliminated completely or reduced in importance.
  • Julian Fellowes, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater and Tyler Perry all showed serious interest in directing this movie.
  • During the lengthy development process, actresses considered or seen for the roles of Janet Leigh and Vera Miles included Dianna Agron, Abbie Cornish, Emilie de Ravin, Natalie Dormer, Ashley Greene, January Jones, Kate Mara, Brit Marling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chloë Sevigny, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Reese Witherspoon and Evan Rachel Wood.
  • Brad Garrett, Tony Goldwyn, Steve Guttenberg, Tony Shalhoub and Mark Strong were amongst the many actors seen or considered to play Lew Wasserman.

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