The one scene Alfred Hitchcock was banned from shooting: “I was never allowed to do it”
Alfred Hitchcock became so successful during his decades-spanning career that he transcended his status as an ‘acclaimed filmmaker’ and became a cinematic icon, becoming known as one of the greatest directors of all time. His influence was astounding, from his thrillers in the early sound era to his groundbreaking work in the horror genre.
Whether you’re incredibly familiar with his movies or have only seen a few, Hitchcock’s films have had an overwhelming impact on modern cinema, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a director working today who hasn’t been inspired by the master. Even if a filmmaker isn’t directly inspired by Hitchcock, they’re bound to take inspiration from someone who is. Put simply, Hitchcock’s movies created a ripple effect, and their influence has continually spread in many unfathomable ways.
Despite his mammoth legacy as one of cinema’s greatest filmmakers, there were still certain scenes that Hitchcock found himself unable to shoot. Not even his status in the industry would allow him to film a sequence that he had kept in his mind for years, waiting for the right time to bring it to life. Sadly for Hitchcock, he soon realized that there are some places that are just off-limits.
For years, he had dreamt of bringing Mount Rushmore to the big screen, one of the most famous American landmarks of all time, supposedly meant to represent freedom and liberty (a rather ironic message for a monument built on stolen sacred land). Hitchcock achieved his goal of including it in his film North By Northwest, but his original plans for the scene had to be changed when he failed to get permission for them.
Talking to Bryan Forbes, Hitchcock revealed, “In a picture like North by Northwest, I waited around 15 years to put Mount Rushmore on the screen. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out. For example, the Department of Interiors step in and say, ‘You mustn’t have any character climbing over the faces of the presidents.’ You say, ‘Why not?’ They say, ‘Because this is the shrine of democracy. You must only have your characters climbing between the heads.’”
Unfortunately for Hitchcock, his fantastic idea to have “Cary Grant sliding down Lincoln’s nose and then hiding in the nostril, reduced to having a sneezing fit” could not come to fruition. “I was never allowed to do it,” he explained, which left him feeling “defeated.” He even had the title The Man on Lincoln’s Nose in mind for the film, which he inevitably had to change when he could not shoot Grant straddling the former president’s nostrils.
The scene was shot on a soundstage at MGM, with Grant and his co-star, Eva Marie Saint, standing on sets that were made to look like parts of Mount Rushmore. Of course, it would have been wholly impractical – and dangerous – to film the actors on the real landmark. While the special effects used aren’t exactly convincing, Hitchcock manages to immerse us in the film well enough that, for a moment, it feels as though we’re really witnessing the pair take on Mount Rushmore.
