Hitchcock: the directors' cut

The best Hitchcock films as chosen by ten film directors including Stephen Frears and Joe Wright

Alfred Hitchcock never won a Best Director Oscar, but he is the quintessential directors’ director. As the BFI’s five-month Hitch extravaganza gets underway across the city, we asked ten leading directors to pick their favourites

Mike Leigh on ‘Rear Window’ (1954) John Carpenter on ‘Vertigo’ (1958) William Friedkin on ‘North by Northwest’ (1959) Kenneth Branagh on ‘Vertigo’ (1958) Joanna Hogg on ‘Suspicion’ (1941) Ben Wheatley on ‘Psycho’ (1960) Mark Cousins on ‘Marnie’ (1964) Stephen Frears on ‘Notorious’ (1946) Joe Wright on ‘Strangers on a Train’ (1951) David Cronenberg on ‘Rear Window’ (1954)

David Cronenberg on ‘Rear Window’ (1954)

‘I thought long and hard about it as I could probably talk about any of Hitchcock’s movies. I don’t think I’ve missed a single one of them. But I would point to “Rear Window” as the one that really affected me. It’s intense and full of erotic overtones. Grace Kelly – blonde and elegant – has this cool sexuality. That’s the way Hitchcock liked them. I can see now that, in its constriction of space – Jimmy Stewart’s character has his leg in a cast and can’t move – it has inspired a lot of my films, especially “Cosmopolis” [much of which takes place in the back of a limo].’

David Cronenberg is the director of ‘The Fly’ and ‘Crash’. His new film ‘Cosmopolis’ opens on June 15 2012.



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  • yeah, the third still's neither vertigo, nor james stewart but cary grant in north by north west

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