Why Alfred Hitchcock compared actors to “stupid children”
Despite his status as an unimpeachable cinematic genius and master of the art of filmmaking, Alfred Hitchcock was, shall we say, notorious for his frank and often brutally honest opinions. While, at first sight, some of the fabled auteur’s comments might have more in keeping with soundbites from a Donald Trump campaign rally, like all good MAGA supporters are obviously aware: context is important.
During an interview in 1963, shortly after the screening of The Birds at the Cannes Film Festival, Hitchcock met with legendary Italian film journalist—and former resistance fighter/badass—Oriana Fallaci and was asked to clarify his publicised disdain for actors, according to Fallaci, having previously been heard referring to them as “cows”.
Never one to mince his words, Hitchcock, in his oh-so-gentle manner, cleared this up, highlighting that actors: “When they aren’t cows, they’re children: that’s something else I’ve often said. And everyone knows that there are good children, bad children, and stupid children. The majority of actors, though, are stupid children. They’re always quarrelling, and they give themselves a lot of airs”.
Although casting the image of a grumpy old man patronising his offspring well into their adulthood, many might assume from this single extract of Hitchcock’s response that his disdain for actors was personal. It wasn’t. Hitchcock, on a personal level at least, was happy to work with actors throughout his career as they were invaluable instruments for him to exercise his creative vision. What Hitchcock was not a fan of was when actors disrupted his work and interrupted or interfered with the execution of his vision.
“The less I see of them, the happier I am. I had much less trouble directing fifteen hundred crows than one single actor. I’ve always said that Walt Disney has the right idea. His actors are made of paper; when he doesn’t like them, he can tear them up”. Oddly enough, despite his supposed admiration for Walt Disney, Hitchcock never made the jump into animation to gain full omnipotence over his casts, which he seemingly envied Disney for. This admiration apparently didn’t run both ways, as Disney prevented Hitchcock from making a movie at Disneyland after the release of Psycho.
Hitchcock, what many undoubtedly appreciated in his day but perhaps, were less understanding of when it came to working with him on the day, was an unbridled genius and master creator. But any pushback or, desire for further direction from an actor was likely to irritate the director and distract him from his vision and he did not like disruption from actors in his films in any shape or form.
Such was Hitchcock’s attitude when it came to not only working with his cast but also casting them in his productions. Hitchcock finished answering Fallaci’s question by stating, “Think of Kim Novak. Not that she isn’t an artist, of course; she paints quite nicely, and in the second part of Vertigo, when she’s dark-haired and looks less like Kim Novak, I even managed to get her to act. But the only reason I took Kim Novak was because Vera Miles was pregnant.”
Indeed, Kim Novak did not insert herself into the director’s good graces when no sooner had she signed on to work on Vertigo, Novak went on strike, demanding more money to appear in the film. Clashing with Hitchcock on wardrobe choices and her portrayal of her character, Novak said decades later in an interview that after finally asking the director how he wanted her to play the character, she was allegedly told: “I hired you, and that’s who I want, what you bring to this role. But what I do expect from you is to stand where I want you to, wear what I want you to and speak in the rhythm that I want you to”.
Viewing actors as unruly children whom the director had to appease, control, encourage and ultimately guide through his vision may have been the most Hollywood statement of the time. Perhaps today, that statement is no less true, but you’d be surprised to see an A-list director talking so candidly about such things. Or would you?
