Anna Daniels
Psycho, which starred Anthony Perkins as the notorious Mama’s boy Norman Bates, was shot using the crew of Hitchcock’s then-current anthology TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which at that point was running like a well-oiled machine. As such, the production wasn’t a difficult one — up to a point.
“We shot that picture so easily, so quickly, because of Mr. Hitchcock’s preparation,” Leigh remembered. “The planning, the concept, the details — everything was done before. It was never a haphazard, ‘Well, let’s see what we do now.’ He gave me great respect, but it had to be within the framework of his concept, his camera. He already knew how the camera could make it exciting.”
Hitch’s level of preparation and trust in Leigh’s actorly instincts meant that the actress was free to give the role her all, resulting in a naturalistic performance quite different from what audiences of the era were used to. Such was her dedication that at the conclusion of the infamous shower sequence in which her character is stabbed to death by Bates, Leigh held her pose — face down on the bathroom floor, eyes wide open as the spray cascades over her — with no help from contact lenses or in-camera trickery.
“[Hitchcock] wanted me to put in those lenses that would give me a scary look… [but it] would’ve taken six weeks for my eyes to get used to them,” Leigh said. “And if I didn’t, it could have damaged my eyes. Mr. Hitchcock said… ‘You’re just going to have to do it on your own.’ So I held that look… I will say it wasn’t easy.”
Written by: Looper
