2012 - HITCHCOCK, fantasy based on the making of the film Psycho

As close to a travesty about filmmaking as you could find.  Hitchcock is supposedly a recreation of the events behind the making of Psycho.  The film gets almost nothing right about this trend setting film.  Well about the only thing it gets right is that Hitchcock made a film called Psycho.

They put together a good cast for the film, Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock, Helen Mirren as his wife Alms, Toni Collette as Hitchock's loyal assistant Peggy Robinson, Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh, well you get the picture. 

There are a lot of recreations centering around the Hitchcock's personal lives. The film tries to get inside Hitchcock's head regarding his need to shake up his career to stay relevant as he moved into the 1960's.  There is a real goofy storytelling device which has Hitchcock having imaginary conversations with the real life Psycho character Ed Gein.  In another particularly icky scene the film postulates that Alma Hitchcock may have had an affair with the writer Winfield Cook.  The film also show Hitchcock acting up on the set due to his emotional turmoil. All of this stuff is mostly untrue or exaggerated at best.

The big problem this film has is trying to explain Hitchcock's creative process.  It's well known that Hitchcock created his films in his office behind a desk working with the writer to define scenes and create characters.  Hitchcock also usually story boarded his entire film before he began filming.  Sitting in an office working doesn't really make for dramatic storytelling.

98 minutes, written by John J. McLaughlin.