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 lodger pacing up and down in his room above the landlady. Hitchcock had wanted the leading man to be guilty, or for the film at least to end ambiguously, but the star was Ivor Novello, a matinée idol, and the "star system" meant that Novello could not be the villain. Hitchcock told Truffaut: "You have to clearly spell it out in big letters: 'He is innocent.'" (He had the same problem years later with Cary Grant in "Suspicion" (1941).) Released in January 1927, "The Lodger" was a commercial and critical success in the UK. Hitchcock told Truffaut that the film