Helen Mirren Circling 'Alfred Hitchcock' as Project Moves From Paramount to Fox Searchlight (Exclusive)

1:05 PM PST 12/7/2011 by Borys Kit

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Anthony Hopkins is attached to play Hitchcock, and Sacha Gervasi is directing. Mirren would play the filmmaker's wife, Alma Reville.

John Shearer/Getty Images

Helen Mirren

After four years in development at Paramount, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is in the process of being set up at Fox Searchlight.

EXCLUSIVE: Anthony Hopkins in Talks to Play Alfred Hitchcock

Anthony Hopkins, who is attached to play Hitchcock, and Sacha Gervasi (Anvil! The Story of Anvil), who is directing, are making the move and are being joined by Helen Mirren, who will play the filmmaker's wife, Alma Reville.

Montecito Picture Co., which has a first-look deal with Paramount and set it up there in 2007, remains on board as producer.

Sources caution that the dealmaking behind the move and Mirren boarding is in the early stages, but an April production start is being eyed. (Hopkins and Gervasi have been associated with the project for almost a year.)

The project is based on the non-fiction book by Stephen Rebello that 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.

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