Helen Mirren recalls the 'Frenzy' of auditioning as a young actress for the real 'Hitchcock' Oscar winner plays his wife in a 'Psycho' drama starring Anthony Hopkins as the famed film director BY ETHAN SACKS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Helen Mirren: 'I didn't like Hitchcock very much [in 1972], and he didn't like me very much either.'

It’s no mystery what drove Helen Mirren to star in “Hitchcock.”

Long before she was an Academy Award winner (for 2006’s “The Queen”) and a Dame, Mirren was a young stage actress in London auditioning for the real Master of Suspense as he was preparing to shoot his second-to-last film, “Frenzy,” back in 1972.

“I didn’t like Hitchcock very much, and he didn’t like me very much either,” Mirren tells the News. “It was not a good meeting at all. I guess it was a kind of audition, but I didn’t really want to be in the movie.

“I had no appreciation of who Alfred Hitchcock was. He was just an old-fashioned guy making old-fashioned movies, as far as I was concerned. I was ignorant and prejudiced.”

Forty years later, Mirren had the chance to correct an impetuousness of youth — if not to work with Hitchcock directly, then get to do the next best thing.

In “Hitchcock,” opening today, the 67-year-old actress stars as Alma Reville, the wife, frequent editor and moral compass of the legendary filmmaker.

Based on Stephen Rebello’s nonfiction book “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of ‘Psycho,’” the tongue-in-cheek drama focuses on the couple’s uphill battle to film what would become the director’s signature hit. The movie also chronicles how they struggled to keep their marriage together in the process.

History has proven 1960’s “Psycho” to be Hitchcock’s most successful work and a genre-sparking thriller. But Alfred and Alma risked losing their home to finance it themselves. Getting the project through the censors and the studio, Universal, was murder.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/helen-mirren-recalls-meeting-real-hitchcock-article-1.1205840#ixzz2DTW75L5z

Helen Mirren to be honored at European Film Awards By Guy Lodge TUESDAY, SEP 25, 2012 1:45 PM (HIT FIX)

Well, it sure is nice to see Helen Mirren win an award for once. It was announced today that the Oscar-winning actress will receive this year's European Achievement in World Cinema Award at December's European Film Awards ceremony -- "a very meaningful honor," she said, while clearing some shelf space. Of course, there's the possibility that this won't be the high point of her awards season, with Fox Searchlight planning a Best Actress Oscar campaign for her turn as Alma Reville opposite Anthony Hopkins's "Hitchcock." In other Mirren news, she's reprising her role as Queen Elizabeth II on the West End in a new Peter Morgan play, to be directed by Stephen Daldry. Seats will no doubt be in high demand, so I'll graciously sit this one out. [European Film Academy]

Read more: http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/roundup-helen-mirren-to-be-honored-at-european-film-awards

Four minutes with Helen Mirren

HELEN Mirren talks about her insecurities, going naked and working with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in the film Red.

1. GAME DAME BATTLES INSECURITY

"It was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done," says Dame Mirren of her new movie, The Door. "You can't see that, but it was."

Set in post-war, Communist Hungary, she plays a stern maid who reveals her past to her new employer. "I had to strip all my artform, all my technique away - the performance had to be naked. I was very insecure. Is this enough? Is it too much?"

2. THAT'S NOT ALL THAT WAS NAKED!

"I had absolutely no make-up on - which, incidentally, is brilliant," says Mirren, whose killer looks at 66 are well-chronicled. "I literally took five minutes to get ready in the morning. There's a liberation in that: take me as I am." She got back in the make-up chair for Hitchcock, playing wife to Anthony Hopkins as the famed director. "He's so wonderful, it was fantastic."

READ MORE: http://www.news.com.au/news/four-minutes-with-helen-mirren/story-fnejnl1p-1226428423079

Anthony Hopkins: He’s one of the busiest actors in Hollywood, but superstar Sir Anthony insists: I’m too lazy to chase roles by Robin Turner, Western MailJul 17 2012 WALES ON LINE

And at the end of this year Welsh film star Sir Anthony Hopkins will be celebrating his 75th birthday.

But that has not stopped in-demand Port Talbot born actor Hopkins claiming he is “too lazy” to go off in pursuit of interesting film roles.

The veteran actor, now based in sun-baked Los Angeles, will next be seen playing legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock in the eagerly awaited biopic Hitchcock, based on the making of the 1960 shock horror flick Psycho.


Alongside him will be fellow Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren as the director’s wife Alma Reville and Scarlet Johansson as Psycho’s damsel in distress Janet Leigh.

Jessica Biel will play Vera Miles who was film’s heroine.

On-set photographs of Hopkins looking a dead ringer for Hitchcock seem to suggest he was made for the role.

But in an interview with Total Film Magazine, Hopkins insists though the part was initially offered to him several years ago, he never set out to land the role.

He explained: “It came along about seven or eight years ago with one director attached and then that fell apart.

“Then about a year ago my agent called and said ‘Hitchcock is back’.

“I met the director, Sacha Gervasi, and he seemed to have such unbridled enthusiasm about it that I said: ‘OK, let’s give it a whirl.’

“I guess my saying: ‘Let’s have a go’ gave it the green light.

“But I never pursue anything – I’m too lazy.”



Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/07/17/he-s-one-of-the-busiest-actors-in-hollywood-but-superstar-sir-anthony-insists-i-m-too-lazy-to-chase-roles-91466-31408655/

Helen Mirren: Helen Mirren bares her belly as she takes a break on the set of Hitchcock PUBLISHED: 17:10 EST, 12 May 2012 | UPDATED: 02:15 EST, 13 May 2012 (MAIL ON LINE)

At 66 years old it’s not often you see her showing any flesh below the bust and above her hemline.
But Helen Mirren flashed a little more than expected while on the set of her new film yesterday.

The legendary actress – who is starring as Alma Reville in the upcoming movie Hitchcock – revealed her midriff as she hurried around in Pasadena, California in between scenes.


Wearing a black and white skirt which fell below the knee with white slippers and a ginger wig for her role, the star looked relaxed as she sipped on a hot beverage in a paper cup.


However Mirren appeared to get too comfortable as she let a few buttons loose in the sunshine, causing her stomach to show.

Helen would have no problem accidentally displaying her tummy in a second outfit she wore.


The film also features Scarlett Johansson as Psycho star Janet Leigh whose character Marion Crane famously met a sticky end in the shower scene.




Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2143577/Helen-Mirren-bares-belly-takes-break-set-Hitchcock.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins: Jessica Biel Joins 'Hitchcock' Film (CHRISTIAN POST)

The "Hitchcock" cast will also include actress Scarlett Johansson, who will portray "Psycho" actress Leigh.

The film chronicles the legendary director Hitchcock and his horror classic in which Leigh is viciously murdered in the famous shower scene. "Psycho" was based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Stephen Rebello.

Biel and Johansson will be joined by cast members Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, who will play Hitchcock and his wife. The upcoming film will follow the director's struggles to make "Psycho" in the 1960s, which is considered one of the most influential films of all time.

British actor James D'Arcy was also cast in "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" as Anthony Perkins, according to Variety.


READ MORE:  http://global.christianpost.com/news/jessica-biel-joins-hitchcock-film-71896/