Psycho (1960 film): Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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He likewise mentions the absence of a hotel tryst between Marion and Sam in the novel. For Stefano, the conversation between Marion and Norman in the hotel parlor in which she displays maternal sympathy towards him makes it possible for the audience to switch their sympathies towards Norman Bates after Marion's murder.<ref name="screenwriting-stefano">{{cite web |url=http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/Creative_Screenwriting_-_Interview_with_Joseph_Stefano |title=Interview in Creative ScreenWriting Journal. Reproduced at |publisher=Hitchcockwiki.com |access-date=January 26, 2014 |archive-date=January 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140119052628/http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/Creative_Screenwriting_-_Interview_with_Joseph_Stefano |url-status=live}}</ref> When Lila Crane is looking through Norman's room in the film, she opens a book with a blank cover whose contents are unseen; in the novel, these are "pathologically pornographic" illustrations. Stefano wanted to give the audience "indications that something was quite wrong, but it could not be spelled out or overdone."<ref name="screenwriting-stefano" /> In his book of conversations with Hitchcock, [[François Truffaut]] says the novel "cheats" by having extended conversations between Norman and "Mother" and stating what Mother is "doing" at various given moments.<ref>{{Harvnb|Truffaut|Scott|1967|p=268}}</ref>

The first name of the female protagonist was changed from Mary to Marion because a real Mary Crane existed in Phoenix.{{sfn|Nickens|Leigh|1996|pp=33–34}} Also changed is the novel's budding romance between Sam and Lila. Hitchcock preferred to focus the audience's attention on the solution to the mystery,<ref>{{Harvnb|Smith|2009|p=16}}</ref>, and Stefano thought such a relationship would make Sam Loomis seem cheap.<ref name="screenwriting-stefano" /> Instead of having Sam explain Norman's [[psychopathology|pathology]] to Lila, the film uses a psychiatrist.{{sfn|Nickens|Leigh|1996|p=39}} Stefano was in therapy dealing with his relationship with his own mother while writing the script.<ref>{{Harvnb|Caminer|Gallagher|1996}}</ref> The novel is more violent than the film: Marion is beheaded in the shower rather than being stabbed to death.<ref name="dvddoc" /> Minor changes include changing Marion's telltale earring found after her death to a scrap of paper that failed to flush down the toilet. This provided some shock effect because toilets almost were never seen in American cinema in the 1960s.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rebello|1990|p=47}}</ref> The location of Arbogast's death was moved from the foyer to the stairwell. Stefano thought this would make it easier to conceal the truth about "Mother" without tipping that something was being hidden.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/Creative_Screenwriting_-_Interview_with_Joseph_Stefano |title=Interview with Stefano |publisher=Hitchcockwiki.com |access-date=January 26, 2014 |archive-date=January 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140119052628/http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/Creative_Screenwriting_-_Interview_with_Joseph_Stefano |url-status=live}}</ref> As Janet Leigh put it, this gave Hitchcock more options for his camera.{{sfn|Nickens|Leigh|1996|p=39}}

=== Pre-production ===