Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho - Softcover

Rebello, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593765118 ISBN 13: 9781593765118

Publisher: Soft Skull, 2013

Synopsis

Here is the complete inside story on the making of psycho, the forerunner of all psychothrillers. Rebello takes us behind the scenes at the creation of one of cinema’s boldest and most influential films. From Hitchcock’s private files and from new in-depth interviews with the stars, writers, and technical crew we get a unique and unparalleled view of the master at work.

Rebello’s carefully researched book tells us everything we could ever want to know about the making of psycho. Starting from the gruesome crimes that inspired the novel on which the film is based, he takes us through the novel’s adaptation into a screenplay and the film’s preproduction, shooting, postproduction, and ultimate reception. Rebello’s technique is as painstaking and thorough as
Hitchcock’s he includes an incredible amount of detail and in doing so reveals what mattered the most to Hitchcock in the process of making his movies.

About this title

Review:

If you don't believe us when we say that Stephen Rebello's Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a killer book concerning the killer movie of all time, then why don't you listen to Tony Perkins, the star? Perkins called this scholarly yet super-readable volume "marvelously researched and irresistible ... required reading not only for Psycho-philes, but also for anyone interested in the backstage world of movie creation." And Time critic Richard Schickel (biographer of Clint Eastwood) calls Rebello's book "one of the best accounts of the making of an individual movie we've ever had."

It's even more reliable than Francois Truffaut's magisterial interview book Hitchcock, because Rebello interviewed the fat master himself, plus many Psycho insiders less cagey and truth-dodging than he.

At last, thanks to Rebello, we know all about the celebrated shower murder scene and all that swirls around it. Like Ernst Lubitsch, who conveyed the thrill of adultery by having the lovers open a door and cast their shadows on a bed, Hitchcock knew that, in film, artful discretion can be the most shocking effect of all. --Tim Appelo

From the Publisher:

Praise for Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho:

"Essential...I've learned so much from reading this book." --Gus Van Sant

"Meticulously researched and irresistible...required reading not only for Psycho-philes, but also for anyone interested in the backstage world of movie-creation." --Anthony Perkins

"Rebello talked with virtually every surviving participant in the filmmaking. The result is a book that will inform cineastes and indulge Psychomanes." --The Washington Post Book World

"Meticulous history...helps the reader comprehend the original shock of the film." --The New York Times Book Review

"We are indebted to Stephen Rebello's labor of love. He sweats the details as much as Hitchcock at his most compulsive." --Philadelphia Inquirer

"One of the best accounts of the making of an individual movie we've ever had." --Richard Schickel

About this edition

• Publisher: Soft Skull
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1593765118
• ISBN 13: 9781593765118
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304