Hitchcock Page #2

And have a look.

- Masks of human skin...

a pair of lips on a draw string

for a window shade.

Oh, yes, and a jar containing

human noses and other...

Is this really going to be your next

picture, Mr. Hitchcock?

Well, that is my intention. Yes, Madam.

My only wish is that Ed Gein...

looks a little more like William Holden

instead of Elmer Fudd.

Oh, by the way, try the finger sandwiches.

They're real fingers.

Now, don't pretend you're not upset

he hasn't read it.

I'm not. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

Well, I loved it.

It must have been great fun to research.

Do you really think he will read it?

- Ah...

Speak of the devil. Hitch...

I ran all over town trying to find a copy

of Psycho, but I simply cannot find one.

I wonder how that could have happened.

Yeah.

Don't stop looking on my behalf.

Hitch, I think you should come.

I've seen happier faces

on a school bus going over a cliff.

But they can't stop looking, can they?

Audiences want to be shocked, Barney.

They want something differensp-wAPOind a new

Every time you want to do

something different...

like The Wrong Man or Vertigo...

someone loses money.

So, we should stop trying

to give them something new?

You owe Paramount

one last picture, Hitch.

Now, can't you do something like

North by Northwest...

but for us this time,

instead of for MGM?

Psycho.

No one respects the name "Hi:41,672

I promise you.

Are you telling me "no," Barney?

I think you know me

better than that, Hitch.

You know what his family did

before they built those movie palaces?

Ran a grocery store.

My father ran a grocery store.

Exactly, that's what I'm saying.

He should show some respect.

They think I've lost my touch, Lew.

My association with television

has cheapened me.

Are you referring

to that deal I got you...

where Bristol-Myers pays you $29,000

an episode, and you own the negative?

That's my kind of cheap.

They just want the same thing

over and over and over.

They've put me in a coffin,

and now they're nailing down the lid.

Hitch, as your agent...

I will never let that happen.

How much do you think

you can make this picture for?

$800,000, give or take.

You're home early.

Oh!

It's lovely, actually.

Oh!

You know, I'm disappointed

you didn't give Whit's book a chance.

And what about Whit? Is he disappointed?

No, he knows you well enough.

Time for a new one, anyway.

Well, you better enjoy the pool, my dear,

while you can.

We might not have it much longer.

Why?

Paramount refuses to finance the movie.

Oh, Hitch, I'm so sorry.

Lew can't find the money.

At least, not fast enough.

Well, why not wait?

No.

We're just going

to have to go it alone, old girl.

Finance it ourselves.

Well, are we going to have to sell

the whole house, or just the pool?

I just want to do the film.

I'm going to ask you this once,

and I'll never mention it again.

Why this one, Hitch?

It's not just because

so many people are saying "no," is it?

Do you remember the fun we had

when we started out all those years ago?

We didn't have any money then, did we?

We didn't have any time, either.

But we took risks, do you remember?

We experimented.

We invented new ways

of making pictures...

because we had to.

I just want to feel...

that kind of... freedom again.

Like we used to, you know?

We are about to propose

a restructured deal for Psycho.

I'm listening.

We finance it.

Independently.

Hitch waives his directorial fee...

Paramount only distributes it...

in exchange for 40% of the profits.

But what exactly

is Paramount distributing?

Is this still a picture about a queer

killing people in his mother's dress?

is the reputation of Alfred Hitchcock.

Barney...

it's very simple.

This is Mister Hitchcock's next film.

Are you in, or are you out?

Fine.

We'll take that deal...

if you can get the money.

We already have the money, Barney.

Who do I make it out to?

If this picture fails, Alma...

we'll be in for a long,

humiliating bout of crow-eating.

It will be splendid.

Are you sure?

Of the movie? Not at all.

But of you, unquestionably.

Joe Stefano. Good to meet you.

- Sit down.

- I'm sorry I was late.

My shrink session went overtime.

- I see him every day. It's still not enough.

I thought it was only director's assistants

who needed psychiatrists.

Not writers.

Do you see a shrink, Mister Hitchcock?

I have to confess, Mister Stefano...

it boggles my brain just trying to imagine...

what on earth you and your shrink

could possibly talk about every day.

Just the usual.

Sex, rage, my mother.

- Good morning.

- Good morning, sir.

Let me have a look at you.

You know, the only thing worse

than a visit to the dentist...

is a visit to the censor.

Whatever you do, Hitch,

don't lose your temper.

- See you later.

- Good luck.

- Thank you.

will absolutely not permit you

to show a knife

penetrating a woman's flesh.

I assure you, Geoffrey...

my murders are always models

of taste and discretion.

Is there any improper suggestion

of nudity...

in this murder scene in the shower?

She won't be nude,

she'll be wearing a shower cap.

Hmm...

We might accept a shot

from outside the bathroom window...

of Marion in silhouette,

above the shoulders...

provided that the glass is frosted.

Thank you.

this scene with a toilet.

Well, it is completely necessary

to show the toilet...

because Marion Crane

attempts to flush evidence down it.

Remnants of which are later discovered

by her sister.

These remnants, you understand,

are clues to her vanishing.

No American movie has ever found it

necessary to show a toilet...

let alone to flush one.

Well, perhaps we ought to shoot the film

in France.

Use a bidet instead.

Mister Hitchcock...

if this office denies you a seal...

and we're certainly heading

in that direction...

your movie will not be released

in a single theater in this country.

Will you be making jokes then?

resents me.

I make them millions of dollars...

and every year I sit at those

dreadful award show dinners...

waiting for someone just to say...

"You're good."

They take sadistic pleasure

in denying me that one little moment.

Deeply, Ed.

Deeply.

I'm sorry, but...

I'm just not used to this...

process.

It's just that more and more,

I've been having these...

impulses.

Strong ones.

Here.

The Lazar office tells me

he's crazy to work with you.

Well, tell Swifty Lazar he should not have

overexposed his client on television.

Unlike some we could mention.

Anthony Perkins.

Oh.

Think of the duality he could bring

to the role of Norman.

The rage lurking beneath

that little boy grin...

the winsome charm he uses

You're not suggesting Mister Perkins is...

Mmm-hmm.

What?

I like your office.

I can't count how many times

I've seen Strangers on a Train.

And Rope.

Well, Norman Bates is the logical extension

of those two characters in that movie.

Appealing, sensitive...

suffering the terrible burden of being forced

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