Alfred Hitchcock & the Making of Psycho Script :: SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board

I just finished reading Alfred Hitchcock & The Making of Psycho by John J. McLaughlin.

This was a weird read somehow, if I’m allowed to call it this way, but I enjoyed it.
The story deals with Alfred Hitchcock and the process of making Psycho, from picking the novel to screenings. What surprised me the most after I began reading was the fact that the script has two storylines. The first one involves the legendary director and his journey in making Psycho, while the second storyline is focused on Ed Gein and his killings, which is the inspiration of Psycho. The script goes back and forth, jumping from one storyline to another.

Since the novel was inspired by Ed Geins' acts, the script deals with it. I think that if we could take all the scenes of the Ed Gein storyline, we could make a biographic script about him and it could stand alone on its own.

Back to Hitchcock, the script shows his relationship with wife Alma who is his most trusted person, the one's opinion Hitchcock considers more than the others. There is a moment in the script where they're watching the shower scene. After the viewing, Alma tells Hitchcock that Janet Leigh made a blink so he goes in the editing room, and Janet did really blink. Hitchcock proudly admits "There's no one like Alma. No one."
The script shows Hitchcock's relation with his actress, with some funny dialogue, most notably Janet Leigh and Vera Miles (who must have really hated him).

Going back to the Ed Gein story, which has nudity and violence, making me think that it will be rated R, well, it must, there are scenes where Ed dresses with the others skins. The portrayal of the killer is different; he almost looks fragile but somehow can't help killing old women.

After his mother's death, Ed tries to create a new world where he could fit, since he was closed in a world where there was only him and his mother. As he also says "You feel like God".

What I also liked about the script is the transition between the storylines, for example: we see Eddies silhouette which than turns into the silhouette of a Norman Bates drawing on a storyboard, and many more cool transitions. But I think what really connects the two storylines is the "MOTHER". The script made me think that the only reason why Hitchcock made Psycho is because of the role of the mother, in his life and Norman's life. As it writes in the script, in a scene between Hitchcock and Anthony Perkins, after shooting is finished:

Alfred Hitchcock: Magnificent. You truly are Norman Bates.
Anthony Perkins: I think we both are.

The shower scene takes most of the scenes in the script, being a remarkable one, and is the only one scene we really witness Hitchcock directing.

What I felt was not right with the script, is the description. Even thought it read fast, 80% (dare I say more) of action lines are filled with WE SEE, WE PULL etc. Most of the description shows something happening saying like in Psycho the film, this way of description really annoyed me ..

This looked more like a shooting script, with all those camera move descriptions. Beside this, even if I liked the portraying of Hitchcock on script, I’m not sure if it's truly original. One funny thing is Hitchcock who talks to us (we are a hidden camera, that only he can see) time by time.

I'm not sure what genre the script truly is, since is difficult to decide. Considering the witty dialogue which I loved it, as I mentioned above, the R rated scenes from Ed Gein's storyline, it makes it difficult to have a final conclusion.

To conclude I think that every Hitchcock fan or even those who don't really know him will enjoy it.

My rating 8/10.