Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho 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." Production commenced on April 13, 2012 of a film based upon the book. The film is directed by Sacha Gervasi and stars Anthony Hopkins as director Alfred Hitchcock, Helen Mirren as his wife Alma Reville, Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh, Jessica Biel as Vera Miles, and James D'Arcy
Alfred Hitchcock the light makes sure that the audience's attention is on the glass. Grant's character is a killer in the book on which the film was based, "Before the Fact" by Francis Iles, but the studio felt that Grant's image would be tarnished by that. Hitchcock therefore settled for an ambiguous finale, although, as he told François Truffaut, he would have preferred to end with the wife's murder. Fontaine won Best Actress for her performance. "Saboteur" (1942) is the first of two films that Hitchcock made for Universal during the decade. Hitchcock was forced by Universal Studios to use Universal contract