THE GIRL – Tippi Hedren Recalls Creepy Encounters With Alfred Hitchcock

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Actress also praises director’s ability to work with actors.

The allegation has been leveled that Alfred Hitchcock was a creepy dude.  Leveled, and duly dramatized into an upcoming HBO Original Movie.  I know it seems outrageous, the notion of a self-obsessed, morbidly obese horror film auteur with the pout of a pre-teen girl being anything less than upstanding, but apparently that’s how Tippi Hedren, star of Hitch’s The Birds and Marnie, sees things.  The result of her experiences is the HBO film entitled The Girl.

According to Deadline, Hedren commented on the abuse and advances from the legendary director at a panel for The Girl, which stars Toby Jones as Hitch and Sienna Miller as the starlet Hedren.  “He was evil, deviant,” Hedren said, cutting right through the bullshit, “almost to the point of dangerous because of the effect he could have on people who were totally unsuspecting.”

You can spend a moment mulling over the idea that there were people who could be totally unsuspecting of Hitchcock.  I mean, I was suspicious of Hitch the first time he strode into his sihlouette on the 1985 revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  But okay, maybe not everyone is as jaded as an eleven-year-old Josh Converse.  Plus, Hedren was under the direct command of the man as he showered her with imaginary birds, which is as creepy as any clumsy puns or other slurred innuendo he might have laid on Hedren within the tight confines of her dressing room.

Hedren tempered her indictment of Hitch with a much rosier appraisal of his ability to work with actors.  “I learned so much from him.  I learned so much from the man about how to make a motion picture.  There were times of delight and joy with him.”

Ah, the paradox of a collaborative creative relationship.  On one hand, Hitch plays the invasive, dominating taskmaster.  On the other, Hedren is totally coming to him.  Am I right, fellas?  I mean, she may as well have, like, touched his arm.

Anyways, The Girl will make its debut on HBO in October.

One Comment

1. 

   Tom Bevis

   August 2, 2012 at 3:23 am

   Of course, they shoulda gotten Jeffrey Tambor to play Hitchcock.

   Reply