I Can't Wait for "The Making of 'The Making of Psycho'"

Hey look! Another dumb idea coming out of Hollywood! For those too lazy to click the link, Fox Searchlight is going to make a movie about the making of Psycho called "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" (maybe this will be the first film in a series in which Hitchcock is a wizard who uses his special powers to make movies and fight evil). My response, like so many of my responses to news out of Hollywood, is "why?" Why do we need a movie based on this? Christ, the Blu-ray already covers this in its special features:

• The Making of 'Psycho' (SD; 1:34:12) is an incredibly excellent feature length documentary on virtually every aspect of the film's production;
• 'Psycho' Sound (HD; 9:58) is an interesting look at the new technologies employed to isolate discrete elements of a mono sound stem to create a 5.1 experience;
• In the Master's Shadow: Hitchcock's Legacy (SD; 25:58) offers some interesting comparisons of Hitchcock sequences with those in other films, and includes a wealth of interviews with directors like Martin Scorsese and John Carpenter who have been influenced by Hitch;
• Hitchcock/Truffaut (Audio; 15:20), an interesting Psycho-centric snippet from their 1962 interview sessions;
• Newsreel Footage: The Release of 'Psycho' (SD; 7:45) is somewhat misleadingly titled, as this is really a "pressbook on film" for exhibitors, describing the "no admittance after the film starts" policy that made Psycho's original roadshow exhibition such a sensation;
• The Shower Scene (SD; 2:30), offers the iconic sequence with and without Herrmann's riveting score;
• The Shower Scene: Storyboards by Saul Bass (SD; 4:10), an interesting compendium of Bass sketches which helped Hitchcock to plan his setups for the sequence;
• 'Psycho' Archives (SD; 7:48), a collection of publicity still;
• Posters and 'Psycho' Ads (SD; 3:00), including some international versions;
• Lobby Cards (SD; 1:30)

Do you think there will be a detailed account of the shower scene?

There's a feature length documentary already available on the subject! What more could you want? Some actors impersonating other actors trying to act? I'm not big on biopics to begin with, But I fail to see any way that Anthony Hopkins doesn't come off as portraying Hitchcock as anything but a caricature (his persona already portrayed him as such). Then you have Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh? Johansson has enough trouble playing one part, let alone a part within a part. 

The biggest issue is what's the story? Just making the movie? The controversial fallout? Since it's a movie about real events, the filmmakers are bound the fudge a little of the reality of what happened. Are they going to contrive obstacles to create tension? It's not a story like Ed Wood where we see an underdog trying anything to make movies. Hitchcock had already made Rear Window, Vertigo, and North by Northwest, not to mention at least ten other lauded films. Yeah, Psycho was independently produced, but Hitchcock had a bit of cache and wasn't hurting for cash himself.

And in the end, who is the market for a movie like this? People who love Psycho will already know the story and many will have seen the feature length documentary or even read the book on the making of Psycho (which happens to share a title with this movie). As the writer of the linked article notes, movies about movies seem to be gaining traction and Psycho has a high profile, so why not make a movie about it. There's no concern as to whether they should make a movie about it, it's just the easy thing to do. The least they could do is make a movie about the making of Apocalypse Now (which already has a very good documentary made about it) or, better yet, the making of Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie. That has everything. An overblown ego, drugs and alcohol, budget overruns. 

Or, instead of making movies about the making of (real) movies, let's just make movies.