MUMBAI: Anthony Hopkins has been signed to play Hitchcock in Fox Searchlight’s Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho while Helen Mirren will play the filmmaker‘s wife Alma Reville.

On the other hand, Scarlett Johannson has also joined the cast of the film that is being directed by Sacha Gervasi (Anvil! The Story of Anvil fame). Johannson will play Janet Leigh, the actress whose chilling shower scene became one of the most iconic in film history.

The film is based on the non-fiction book by Stephen Rebello that tracks how Hitchcock, at the height of his game as a director, decided to make a "lowly" horror movie. No studio wanted to touch it initially, so Hitchcock scrounged for financing by himself. The movie, of course, became one of his biggest hits and one of the most influential of all time.
 
The project was earlier in development at Paramount for four years. Montecito Picture Co., which has a first-look deal with Paramount and set it up there in 2007, remains on board as producer. At the center of the script by John McLaughlin (Black Swan) and Rebello is the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife.

Scarlett Johannson is joining the cast of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, a behind-the-scenes drama being directed by Sacha Gervasi (Anvil! The Story of Anvil), sources confirm to THR. She will play Janet Leigh, the actress whose chilling shower scene became one of the most iconic in film history.