Vanity Fair's Hitchcock Scenes Compared with Originals

Fellow blogger Barefoot Cassandra has been doing a lot of heavy lifting lately. When the March Vanity Fair came out with those (I think) fantastic recreations of famous Alfred Hitchcock scenes, she set about scanning those images and then finding their parallel stills from the original movies. It's been interesting to compare them side by side - to see how the artists adhered to the original and where they exercized their creative license. Thanks, Cassandra! (Whoever you are....)

Later, today, hopefully, I'll deliver my wrap-up on Hitchcock's Films as Philosophy.

Vanity Fair Pictures from Alfred Hitchcock Scenes: Sneak Previews and Peeks

If you've been tracking the excitement (okay, MY excitement) at seeing Charlize Theron reprise Grace Kelly's role in Dial M for Murder or, for that matter seeing Gwyneth Paltrow walk in Princess Grace' steps in To Catch a Thief (am I the only guy who sees that obvious connection?!) then you'll definitely want to click here for a sneak preview of the upcoming Vanity Fair spread. This comes from my correspondent, the brilliant and talented radio DJ-slash-comic nerd Jill. Thanks Jill!

BTW, just so newcomers know, Hitchcock Geek isn't a fan site. Really. I'm here to talk about film and philosophy as it relates to Alfred Hitchcock's movies. That's my raison d'blog. I've got a post in the works that will dig into Oxford philosopher Stephen Mulhall's thoughts on film as philosophy and I plan to go Wittgenstein all over y'all, even ALL y'all. But, for now, there are some delicious actresses (and, okay, a few decent looking actors too) bringing famous Hitchcock images to life. What can I say? I'm a student and a fan. I think that makes me an aficionado. If that appeals to you, please, by all means, stay in touch and subscribe by clicking the chicklet or filling out the email form to the right. And I promise to return you to your regular (faux-) highbrow programming shortly. In the meantime, take a gander at the sneak peeks.

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.