Friday 6 March 2009

Vanity Fair Recreates Hitchcock

The director was a stickler for the details. V.F.’s team had to go to extraordinary lengths to reprise his most famous moments.

Alfred Hitchcock created some of the most arresting images in film history. For this year’s Hollywood Portfolio, the heart of our 14th annual Hollywood Issue, 21 of the finest actors working today have joined with four regular Vanity Fair photographers to re-create 11 of Hitchcock’s most iconic scenes.

Dial M for Murder, 1954
http://www.vanityfair.com/images/culture/2008/03/cusl01_hitchcock0803.jpg
Charlize Theron. Photograph by Norman Jean Roy.

The scene in which Charles Alexander Swann (Dawson) attempts to strangle Margot Mary Wendice (Kelly), only to be himself stabbed with a pair of scissors, caused Hitchcock great anxiety. Although the entire film was shot in just 36 days, this single scene required a full week of rehearsals and multiple takes to get the choreography and timing right.

http://www.vanityfair.com/images/culture/2008/03/cusl01a_hitchcock0803.jpg
The original still: Anthony Dawson and Grace Kelly. ©Warner Brothers.

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