Scarlett Johansson to play Janet Leigh in the Making of Psycho
Scarlett Johansson will step into the shower to play Janet Leigh in a behind-the-scenes drama aboutthe making of Psycho. Based on the 1990 book by Stephen Rebello, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho charts the director's struggle to bypass the studios and fund a low-budget, black-and-white horror film from his own pocket.
According to theHollywood Reporter, Johansson's arrival completes the principal cast. Anthony Hopkins is already on board as Hitchcock, while Helen Mirren plays Alma, the director's redoubtable wife. The Fox Searchlight production will be directed by Sacha Gervasi from a script by Rebello and Black Swan writer John McLaughlin.
Psycho cast the Hollywood actor Janet Leigh in the role of Marion Crane, the Arizona secretary who absconds with $40,000 and is then suddenly, shockingly knifed to death in the Bates Motel. The film sparked controversy on its release back in 1960, prompting the writer CA Lejeune to walk out of a press screening and immediately resign as film critic of the Observer newspaper. But Hitchcock's gamble paid off.Psycho went on to be a huge box-office hit, inspired a glut of sequels, rip-offs and homages and is now widely recognised as the director's most inspired picture.