20 Things You Didn't Know About Psycho
Happy 60th birthday to Hitch's iconic masterpiece.
Though there's no real consensus on which Alfred Hitchcock movie is the best, the consensus favourite among more mainstream filmgoers is without question his 1960 horror classic Psycho.
As a follow-up to Hitchcock's hugely successful North by Northwest released the year prior, Psycho was something of a shock to critics and audiences alike. Filmed in black-and-white on a low budget with a TV crew, it couldn't seem more antithetical to the director's prevailing style and aesthetic.
And yet, aided by one of the most ingenious marketing campaigns in cinema history, Psycho was a colossal box office hit and eventually won the hearts of critics too, while also receiving four Academy Award nominations (including Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh and Best Director for Hitch).
Believe it or not, Psycho's world premiere in New York took place 60 years ago this month, and as much as has been written and said about the film, there's still plenty of trivia which fans may not be aware of.
From the arduous nature of the low-budget shoot, to a certain actor Hitchcock couldn't stand, the eccentric particulars of the film's secret production and many more, you can't miss these 20 facts about Hitchcock's spine-tingling genre classic...
20. The Shower Scene Took A Week To Film
Despite Psycho's focal shower scene only accounting for roughly three minutes of the film's 109-minute runtime, Hitchcock blocked out an entire week of his shooting schedule to film it, and considering that it became the project's immediately iconic centerpiece, it was probably just as well.
Given that Janet Leigh spent three weeks filming her role as Marion Crane, the shower scene alone accounts for a whole one-third of her time working on the movie.
This is largely due to the technically complex and precise nature of the scene, which required 78 different camera set-ups and 52 cuts. But of course, the end result absolutely speaks for itself and entirely justify's the director's intense labouring over it.