Vanity Fair Recreates Famous Alfred Hitchcock Movie Scenes

A colleague in one of my Alfred Hitchcock discussion groups just pointed out that Vanity Fair is publishing a photo spread inspired by images from Hitchcock movies for its upcoming annual Hollywood issue. If you’ve ever wondered how Scarlett Johansson would have looked in the role of Lisa Fremont in Rear Window (originally played by Grace Kelly), now you’ll know. (Hitch pastichist Brian De Palma previously gave her the "Madeleine" of Vertigo treatment [originally immortalized by Kim Novak] in The Black Dahlia -- click those two links and compare for yourself.) The Vanity Fair website hosts a behind-the-scenes report and video coverage of the photo shoot. Titled "The Hitchcock Portfolio," this photo collection may not add anything to existing scholarship. But it’s fun and well done – and it reminds us of the director’s power to hold our imagination years after he created the original images.

Here is the complete list of actors: Casey Affleck, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Robert Downey Jr., Ben Foster, Jodie Foster, Emile Hirsch, Johansson, Keira Knightley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, James McAvoy, Omar Metwally, Gwyneth Paltrow, Seth Rogen, Eva Marie Saint, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Tang Wei, and Renée Zellweger.