The “infantile” casting decision Alfred Hitchcock always regretted: “I was being stupid”
At the height of his power, Alfred Hitchcock was working with some of the greatest performers of his time, with a prolific filmography that led to repeated collaboration with the likes of Cary Grant, Grace Kelly and James Stewart.
For any actor, the chance to star in his work opened up a treasure trove of dramatic possibilities, with chilling mysteries that played out in the most unexpected of ways.
From the nail-biting drama of Rear Window, the genuine terror of Psycho and unbridled fear that is caused by a few flying birds in The Birds, the master of suspense created the kinds of stories that could be enjoyed by everyone, communicating through a unique yet universal language of fear that gripped audiences everywhere.
However, his films were made special by the nuanced yet subtle central performances, despite the fact that the director revealed that he wasn’t happy with the casting of one of his greatest leading ladies.
Notorious is perhaps one of Hitchcock’s most mature films, with a slow-burning tension that manifests through the lack of honesty and vulnerability between the lead characters, who both deny their true feelings for each other and find themselves in more trouble as a result. It follows a secret agent who recruits the daughter of a convicted German war criminal as a spy to bring down the Nazis. However, both end up falling in love with each other, although both are unable to admit it after one has to slip deeper into their undercover work and feign a relationship with someone else.
Starring the great Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, it was one of the most expensive pictures that Hitchcock made at the time, sparking an ounce of regret for the director after revealing that his leading lady was partly the cause of these costs.
When discussing the early production process, Hitchcock said, “I had no special admiration for the novel, and I don’t think I would have made the picture if it hadn’t been for Ingrid Bergman. At that time she was the biggest star in America and all the American producers were competing for her services, and I must admit that I made the mistake of thinking that to get Bergman would be a tremendous feat; it was a victory over the rest of the industry, you see”.
“That was bad thinking, and my behaviour was almost infantile,” he added. “Because even if the presence of Bergman represented a commercial asset, it made the whole thing so costly that there was no point to it. Had I examined the whole thing more carefully from the commercial angle, I would not have spent two and a half million dollars on the picture. At the time that was a lot of money, you see”.
While Bergman might have been a huge asset for the picture as a whole, Hitchcock was purely motivated by greed and his own self-interest when it came to casting her, imagining how much press he could gain from her presence. The director expanded on this, saying, “I looked upon Bergman as a feather in my cap… I was literally intoxicated at the thought of the cameras and flashbulbs that would be directed at Bergman and myself at the London airport. All of these externals seemed to be terribly important. I can only say now that I was being stupid and juvenile”.
While some might be motivated by Bergman’s undeniable talent, Hitchcock could only think of the clout that she could bring to him, becoming blinded by her star power and obsessed by the possibilities of fame. It’s a trap that many people fall into, becoming obsessed by fame, fortune and notoriety, but perhaps not one that people expected Hitchcock to fall into.
