Hitchcock (2012)

Helen Mirren: Alma Reville

Photos 

Quotes 

• Alfred Hitchcock : I will never find a Hitchcock blonde as beautiful as you.

  Alma Reville : Oh, Hitch. I've waited thirty years to hear you say that.

  Alfred Hitchcock : And that my dear, is why they call me the Master of Suspense.

• Alfred Hitchcock : [wakes Alma in the middle of the night and hands her Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho"]  I just want you to read this little bit here. It takes place in the motel bathroom.

  Alma Reville : "Mary started to scream. And then the curtains parted farther and a hand appeared, holding a butcher's knife. It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream and her head." Charming. Doris Day should do it as a musical.

• Alfred Hitchcock : I'm under extraordinary pressures on this picture and the least you can do is give me your full support.

  Alma Reville : Full support! We've mortgaged our house! I'm your wife! I celebrate with you when the reviews are good. I cry for you when they are bad! I put up with all those people who look through me as if I were invisible because all they see is the great and glorious ALFRED HITCHCOCK!

• Alma Reville : You shouldn't wait until half way through. Kill her after thirty minutes.

• Janet Leigh : I do have a concern or two. Well, I'm an actress, of course, but I'm first a wife and a mother. And I'm just curious to know - um - how are you going to shoot this shower scene?

  Alma Reville : Yes, you and the Shurlock Office.

  Janet Leigh : It's only that, well, from here up, I'm not exactly boyish, so...

  Alfred Hitchcock : Allow me to set your mind at rest, my dear. I will be shooting short bits of film from various angles. Cut together, the montage will only suggest nudity, suggest violence. Nothing will actually be shown. But of course, having you in the shower will make it all that more, well - titillating.

  Alma Reville : Will you excuse me?

• Alfred Hitchcock : Did you read that little snippet from A.H. Weiler's review in the New York Times? He said he found the climax to be "overdrawn".

  Alma Reville : Yes, well I doubt Mr Weiler has had a climax in years.

• Alma Reville : I'm going to ask you this once, and I'll never mention it again. Why this one, Hitch? It's not just because so many people are saying *no*, is it?

  Alfred Hitchcock : Do you remember the fun we had when we started out all those years ago? We didn't have any money then, did we? We didn't have any time, either. But we took risks, do you remember? We experimented. We invented new ways of making pictures because we had to. I just want to feel that kind of freedom again. Like we used to, you know?

• Alma Reville : Are we going to have to sell the whole house, or just the pool?

• Alma Reville : You know, Hitch always says that your private life is in danger of being more entertaining than any of your plots.

  Whitfield Cook : Well, I'm surprised he let me have you for the whole afternoon. Especially looking so beautiful. So, tell me, what are you working on these days?

  Alma Reville : Me? I'm satisfied working in my garden.

  Whitfield Cook : Well, that's one lucky garden.

  Alma Reville : You know, all this relentless sycophancy is actually giving me indigestion. What are you after?

  Whitfield Cook : I was hoping that you may be able to apply your considerable pruning skills to this.

  Alma Reville : Ah, all is finally revealed. Whit, you are a little predictable, you know?

  Whitfield Cook : The most fun I ever had was working with you.

• Alfred Hitchcock : If this picture fails, Alma, we'll be in for a long, humiliating bout of crow-eating.

  Alma Reville : It'll be splendid.

  Alfred Hitchcock : Are you sure?

  Alma Reville : Of the movie? Not at all. But of you? Unquestionably.

• Alma Reville : Oh, you imp. You've got nudity in there!

  Alfred Hitchcock : Well, her breasts were rather large. It was a challenge not to show them.

• Alma Reville : Muhammad had the eyes of peeping toms gouged out with arrows.

• Alfred Hitchcock : Tell me, my dear, do you think I'm too old?

  Alma Reville : Yes, you're a true relic. And lest we forget, a notably corpulent one.

  Alfred Hitchcock : You always know precisely where to plunge the dagger, don't you?

  Alma Reville : Right between the shoulder blades. I learned it from your pictures.

• Alma Reville : You'll feel better when you find a new project. Hasn't Peggy unearthed any decent books for you recently?

  Alfred Hitchcock : Yes, sleeping pills with dust jackets.

• Alfred Hitchcock : What if someone really good made a horror picture? Just think of the shock value. Killing off your leading lady halfway through. I mean, you are intrigued, are you not, my dear? Come on, admit it. Admit it.

  Alma Reville : Actually, I think it's a huge mistake. You shouldn't wait till halfway through. Kill her off after 30 minutes.

• Alma Reville : There's a project out there waiting for you, Hitch. I promise you.

• Alma Reville : [to Hitch, sitting in a bathtub]  Hurry up, dear. You're pruning.

• Alfred Hitchcock : If I could get Grace Kelly to play the girl they'd let me get away with murder.

  Alma Reville : Well, you can't. She's a princess now, which makes her permanently unattainable.

  Alfred Hitchcock : And all the more desirable.

• Alma Reville : How about Janet Leigh? I know she's normally the good girl, but she was awfully good in "Touch of Evil." You remember how you always used to remark on her figure at the Wasserman's parties?

• Alma Reville : Anthony Perkins. Think of the duality he could bring to the role of Norman. The rage lurking beneath that little boy grin, the winsome charm he uses to keep from being found out.

• Alma Reville : There will be no more shipments flown in from Maxim's of Paris. We can't afford it. The foie gras at Chasen's is more than adequate.

  Alfred Hitchcock : But those geese are from Barstow, not from Marseille.

  Alma Reville : Yes. Well, we all have to make our sacrifices for the greater good. Don't we, Alfred?

• Lillian (Studio Head's Wife) : You're looking a little pale. Well, it's no wonder, with that thing your husband's working on now. You can't possibly approve. Why are you letting him do something so tasteless?

  Alma Reville : Don't upset yourself, darling. It's only a bloody movie.

• Alfred Hitchcock : I think the big failure is the relationship between the heroine and the hero, you see? Probably, if you weren't so smitten with your friend Whitfield Cook, you'd be able to see that, wouldn't you? But then I suppose women never really care to face the truth - when their hearts are involved, do they?

  Alma Reville : How would you know what really goes on between a man and a woman?

• Alma Reville : Consider this a reminder. I am your wife, Alma Reville... not one of those contract blondes you badger and torment... with your oh-so-specific directions.

• Alma Reville : You may not be the easiest man to live with, but you do know how to cut a picture better than anyone else.

  Alfred Hitchcock : Except for you.