‘Hitchcock’ Trailer: This is Helen Mirren’s Movie Now

In the grand tradition of Hollywood there are dueling Alfred Hitchcock projects in the works -- 'The Girl,' an HBO original feature starring Toby Jones as the master of horror, and 'Hitchcock,' starring Anthony Hopkins with the giant double-chin. We've got the first official 'Hitchcock' trailer and we're pleasantly surprised to discover this is Helen Mirren's movie.

There's something sort of off about Anthony Hopkins in this 'Hitchcock' trailer and it might be that the tone of his line-delivery is just as cartoonish as that chin. Remember when Robert Downey Jr. talks about going "full retard" in 'Tropic Thunder'? Is there an equivalent for that when you're playing a famous figure in a biopic? If so, Anthony Hopkins has clearly found some sort of uncanny valley here. It's off-putting, and not in the good, creepy Hitchcockian way.

What surprises us here is the capacity of Helen Mirren's character -- Hitchy's wife -- and just how much this feels like her movie. She definitely out-acts Hopkins to hell and back, and that's just in the trailer! The film co-stars Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh, Jessica Biel as Vera Miles, and Michael Stuhlbarg as studio exec Lew Wasserman.

'Hitchcock' tells the story of the making of the director's classic horror masterpiece 'Psycho,' but this trailer indicates that the film is more interested in creating an intangible fable rather than humanizing this man. There is, however, a brief glimpse at Hitch's madness as he swings a butcher knife at Johansson's Janet Leigh in the shower while trying to get more of a reaction out of her.