Hitchcock filmed it at minimal cost, in black and white.
The premiere of the famous psychological thriller Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, took place on June 16, 1960. The main roles were played by Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh, and the film was written by Joseph Stefan based on the novel of the same name by Robert Bloch.
The backbone of the film is a meeting between secretary Marion Crane (Leigh) who, after running away with her boss’s money, hides in a remote motel and the owner of that motel, the disturbed Norman Bates (Perkins) and the later consequences of their meeting.
Although it was a relatively low-budget film, Psycho eventually made big money in theaters, making Hitchcock rich. Namely, since the big studios did not want to invest in the shooting of such a film, Hitchcock shot it at minimal cost, in black and white instead of the then usual color. He privately funded the film, and studios gave him a 60% stake in the earnings instead of the usual director’s fee because they didn’t believe in the film’s commercial success. Because of all the above, Hitchcock earned much more than the directors normally earned with the great success of that film in cinemas.
He had the book on which the film was made previously bought in as many copies as possible, in order to remove it from the market and increase the surprise of the audience. Psycho was also positively rated by critics, so he received four Oscar nominations. Today, it is considered one of the best films of all time, and in 1992 it was chosen for preservation in the American National Film Register.
