EXCLUSIVE: Anthony Hopkins in Talks to Play Alfred Hitchcock

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Alfred Hitchcock

UPDATED: Many actors have relished playing directors on screen. Orson Welles is a favorite to tackle, with actors such as Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio taking cracks at the larger-than-life filmmaker.

Now Alfred Hitchcock is getting the spotlight, and Anthony Hopkins may just turn out the man who plays him.

The Oscar-winning actor is in talks to portray the Master of Suspense in Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, Montecito’s adaptation of the Stephen Rebello nonfiction book.

Sacha Gervasi, who helmed the acclaimed documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil, is in talks to direct Hitchcock. Montecito is developing the project and will give Paramount, with which it has a pact, first crack at the project. 

The book, published in 1990, tracks how Hitchcock, at the height of his game as a director, decided to make a “lowly” horror movie. No studio wanted to touch it initially so Hitchcock scrounged for financing by himself. The movie, of course, became one of his biggest hits and one of the most influential of all time.

At the center of the script, by John McLaughlin (Black Swan) and Rebello, is the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville.

No deals have been made with Hopkins or Gervasi. Gervasi, repped by CAA and Management 360, has another project vying for his attention, My Dinner with Herve, set up at Mandate. But the duo has been taking meetings with Montecito (one took place at the Grill last week), hunkering down over the script.

This is Hopkins’ second go-around with Hitchcock. The actor was attached to a previous incarnation of the adaptation, which had Ryan Murphy tied to it as director and Helen Mirren as the female lead. Hopkins' name had been floating around in association with the reconstituted project.

The UTA-repped actor next stars in The Rite, New Line’s supernatural thriller, which opens Jan. 28.