| You may already know... - the production name for the film was "wimpy", production no. 4901. - in instructing audiences to see Psycho "from the very start, or not at all", Hitchcock arguably single - handedly transformed the public's moviegoing experience, together with Clouzot's own masterpiece, "Les Diaboliques". Why else do people no longer get up halfway through films, muttering "this is where we came in" ? - Hershey's chocolate syrup was used for blood during the shower scene. Mmm, gooey... - whilst on a culinary theme, the sound heard when Marion is being stabbed to death is actually the sound of a knife being sunk into a Casaba melon. Yum! - the final model of "mother" was selected by the pitch and loudness of Janet Leigh's screams upon finding various versions of the dummy in her dressing room. - Perkins chose items from his own wardrobe for the shoot, claiming they wouldn't make his neck look so long (even though they did anyway...). - In preparing for her role, Janet Leigh also opted to do the same thing - that is, she went out to the shops and chose clothes on the kind of budget that her character would have been able to afford, and didn't have a costumier make them up for her. The hairstyle was also Leigh's own, as "she probably wouldn't be able to afford a beauty parlour" (quoted from Rebello). - Bizarrely yet ironically, Perkins wasn't present during the week it took to film the shower scene, performing in a stage production of Greenwillow.** - Janet Leigh reportedly never took a shower again since her experiences on the set! - Hitchcock received several letters of complaint about Psycho, one such incident involving a man who was having problems with his wife. After seeing another certain film (possibly H.G Clouzot's film noted above), she apparently refused to have a bath, and after seeing Psycho she refused to have a shower, to which Hitch simply replied, "take her to the cleaners". - John Gavin (who plays Sam Loomis) went on to become the US Ambassador to Mexico - another one for the "where are they now" pages! - Janet Leigh sadly lost out on her best supporting actress oscar to Shirley Jones for her part in Elmer Gantry. - Such was the impact of the shower scene on audiences and on Ms Leigh's career that she was never cast in a Hitchcock film again, she became too famous.. Vera Miles, however, soon after appeared in a number of his television shows (not to mention a certain Psycho sequel...). - although it was arguably his most famous role, Tony Perkins was also a talented musician and screenwriter, garnering an Academy Award Nomination for his song "Thee I Love" (from Friendly Persuasion)** and, among many other projects, worked with lyricist and long time friend Stephen Sondheim on The Last of Sheila, an engaging whodunnit set on a yacht. ** thanks to Rachel at mad-about-tony.co.uk for correcting the, ahem, silly mistakes! |
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| Psycho Trivia! |
This classic film spawned many (unwanted) sequels, which inevitably means... Inconsistencies! 1. In Psycho II Norman claims he was 12 when his mother went mad...Henry Thomas DOES NOT look 12 in Psycho IV!! But then, in the original Psycho, Norman claims that "a few years ago, Mother met this man..." In Psycho IV, he looks about 15 which would make Norman, in 1960, about 25! 2. in the orignal, he claims he was only 5 when his father died, but says he was 6 in Psycho IV, |
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