Hitchcock

With its recent move to the Oscar-consideration berth of November 23, Hitchcock will be hitting screens barely a month after the debut of HBO's other Alfred Hitchcock behind-the-scenes movie The Girl, once again putting that film's Toby Jones in direct competition with some other, more prestigious biopic. And by the looks of this trailer, once again it's not going to be a fair fight. Whereas Jones can lean only on the blank slate of Sienna Miller and several pounds of awkwardly applied latex for support, here Sir Anthony Hopkins has Helen Mirren to match him in mordant wit, Scarlett Johansson working her saucy wiles as Psycho star Janet Leigh, and a script that presents a character sketch of the director beyond just his penchant for harassing blondes. Judging by the obligatory shower scene, there's some of that in here too, but it's mixed into what looks to be a pretty fun romp through murder and the movie business. Sorry, Toby Jones.