Helen Mirren credited as playing...
Alma Reville
- Alfred Hitchcock: I will never find a Hitchcock blonde as beautiful as you.
- Alma Reville: Oh, Hitch. I've waited thirty years to hear you say that.
- Alfred Hitchcock: And that my dear, is why they call me the Master of Suspense.
- Alfred Hitchcock: [wakes Alma in the middle of the night and hands her Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho"] I just want you to read this little bit here. It takes place in the motel bathroom.
- Alma Reville: "Mary started to scream. And then the curtains parted farther and a hand appeared, holding a butcher's knife. It was the knife that, a moment later, cut off her scream and her head." Charming. Doris Day should do it as a musical.
- Alfred Hitchcock: I'm under extraordinary pressures on this picture and the least you can do is give me your full support.
- Alma Reville: Full support! We've mortgaged our house! I'm your wife! I celebrate with you when the reviews are good. I cry for you when they are bad! I put up with all those people who look through me as if I were invisible because all they see is the great and glorious ALFRED HITCHCOCK!
- Janet Leigh: I do have a concern or two. Well, I'm an actress, of course, but I'm first a wife and a mother. And I'm just curious to know - um - how are you going to shoot this shower scene?
- Alma Reville: Yes, you and the Shurlock Office.
- Janet Leigh: It's only that, well, from here up, I'm not exactly boyish, so...
- Alfred Hitchcock: Allow me to set your mind at rest, my dear. I will be shooting short bits of film from various angles. Cut together, the montage will only suggest nudity, suggest violence. Nothing will actually be shown. But of course, having you in the shower will make it all that more, well - titillating.
- Alma Reville: Will you excuse me?
- Alfred Hitchcock: Did you read that little snippet from A.H. Weiler's review in the New York Times? He said he found the climax to be "overdrawn".
- Alma Reville: Yes, well I doubt Mr Weiler has had a climax in years.
- Alma Reville: I'm going to ask you this once, and I'll never mention it again. Why this one, Hitch? It's not just because so many people are saying *no*, is it?
- Alfred Hitchcock: Do you remember the fun we had when we started out all those years ago? We didn't have any money then, did we? We didn't have any time, either. But we took risks, do you remember? We experimented. We invented new ways of making pictures because we had to. I just want to feel that kind of freedom again. Like we used to, you know?
- Alfred Hitchcock: If this picture fails, Alma, we'll be in for a long, humiliating bout of crow-eating.
- Alma Reville: It'll be splendid.
- Alfred Hitchcock: Are you sure?
- Alma Reville: Of the movie? Not at all. But of you? Unquestionably.
- Alma Reville: You know, Hitch always says that your private life is in danger of being more entertaining than any of your plots.
- Whitfield Cook: Well, I'm surprised he let me have you for the whole afternoon. Especially looking so beautiful. So, tell me, what are you working on these days?
- Alma Reville: Me? I'm satisfied working in my garden.
- Whitfield Cook: Well, that's one lucky garden.
- Alma Reville: You know, all this relentless sycophancy is actually giving me indigestion. What are you after?
- Whitfield Cook: I was hoping that you may be able to apply your considerable pruning skills to this.
- Alma Reville: Ah, all is finally revealed. Whit, you are a little predictable, you know?
- Whitfield Cook: The most fun I ever had was working with you.
- Alma Reville: Oh, you imp. You've got nudity in there!
- Alfred Hitchcock: Well, her breasts were rather large. It was a challenge not to show them.
- Alma Reville: You may not be the easiest man to live with, but you do know how to cut a picture better than anyone else.
- Alfred Hitchcock: Except for you.
- Alfred Hitchcock: Tell me, my dear, do you think I'm too old?
- Alma Reville: Yes, you're a true relic. And lest we forget, a notably corpulent one.
- Alfred Hitchcock: You always know precisely where to plunge the dagger, don't you?
- Alma Reville: Right between the shoulder blades. I learned it from your pictures.
- Alma Reville: You'll feel better when you find a new project. Hasn't Peggy unearthed any decent books for you recently?
- Alfred Hitchcock: Yes, sleeping pills with dust jackets.
- Alfred Hitchcock: What if someone really good made a horror picture? Just think of the shock value. Killing off your leading lady halfway through. I mean, you are intrigued, are you not, my dear? Come on, admit it. Admit it.
- Alma Reville: Actually, I think it's a huge mistake. You shouldn't wait till halfway through. Kill her off after 30 minutes.
- Alfred Hitchcock: If I could get Grace Kelly to play the girl they'd let me get away with murder.
- Alma Reville: Well, you can't. She's a princess now, which makes her permanently unattainable.
- Alfred Hitchcock: And all the more desirable.
- Alma Reville: How about Janet Leigh? I know she's normally the good girl, but she was awfully good in "Touch of Evil." You remember how you always used to remark on her figure at the Wasserman's parties?