"Good eeevening." The last we heard about writer/director Ryan Murphy's Alfred Hitchcock biopic was back in February. At the time it was just speculation, but today MTV Movies Blog has confirmation -- Anthony Hopkins will play Hitch. They've even got a clip of him doing the voice over there. I think it's pretty solid casting, but Hopkins better start eating! The February report mentioned Helen Mirren possibly stepping into the role of Hitchcock's wife and lifelong creative collaborator, Alma Reville, but that casting is not confirmed yet. The film is expected to be called Alfred Hitchcock Presents and will detail Hitchcock's experiences making the 1960 classic Psycho. At the time, the screenplay was seen as far too dark for mass audiences, and Hitch faced quite a few hurdles to bring the project to the big screen.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents will be written and directed by Ryan Murphy. I am a fan of Murphy's FX series Nip/Tuck, particularly the first few seasons. But any faith I had in his filmmaking went out the window with the absolutely dreadful Running with Scissors, one of my least favorite movies of 2006. Hopefully, he can redeem himself here. I can't say for certain when we'll see Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as Murphy is currently very busy in both the television and film worlds. On TV, he's overseeing Nip/Tuck and an upcoming F/X drama about a transsexual father called 4 oz. On the big screen, he's working on the Tricky Dick flick Dirty Tricks, starring Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep, with Jim Broadbent as Nixon, and Need with Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts. So it's conceivable that we won't get to see AFP for a few years. Hey, now that the wheels are in motion on the story of how Hitchcock's Psycho came to be, is it too much to ask to get a making-of biopic for Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed remake? I kid, I kid.

While Ryan Murphy's Running with Scissors wasn't the most beloved piece of cinema to come out recently, he's had his share of TV success. He wrote most of the episodes to the doomed-yet-loved series Popular, and more recently he's been penning his heart out on Nip/Tuck. Undaunted by the less-than-stellar response to Scissors, he's already got the Kidman/Watts flick, Need, and the star-studded Dirty Tricks on the pike. Apparently, he isn't busy enough, and it appears that he's going to be taking on another media name, one a bit more wide-spread -- the master of mystery, Alfred Hitchcock.

According to Hollywood Elsewhere, Murphy will be directing Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which details the hurdles and roadblocks the iconic director had to go through to make his popular classic, Psycho. (While it wouldn't make most of us blink an eye these days, the director had to struggle to make something so dark and violent during the time of Donna Reed.) But that's not all -- rumors are also circulating about the cast. It seems that Anthony Hopkins, who has already taken on the likes of other visionaries such as Pablo Picasso and Leo Tolstoy, might star as Hitchcock, and Helen Mirren might co-star as his wife and collaborator, Alma Reville.

This could be great, or a big waste of time. Murphy has had questionable feature success thus far, the Psycho remake was terrible and similar projects have struggled (RKO 281). Do we want to see Hitchcock's behind-the-scenes trials and tribulations, or is this Psycho story best left in the past?

[via Chud]

Australian beauties Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts are in talks to co-star in Need, a thriller that would be directed by Ryan Murphy, the creator of the popular television series "Nip/Tuck." Variety describes the project as a "sexy thriller" in which Watts would play a psychiatrist and Kidman would play an unstable patient who steals Watts' husband. The role could mark a long-awaited return to the villainous roles Kidman played well in films such as To Die For and Malice. The project is currently sewing up independent financing and would be produced by Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal; a filming start in the fall is anticipated.

Murphy's star is on the rise, as he recently erected a production shingle and sealed a development deal with 20th Century Fox, that includes a first-look component. His deal, which has toeholds in 20th Century Fox TV, FX and Fox.net, is reportedly worth $15 million a year. He also recently directed Running With Scissors and has an adaptation of the Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love and the Watergate drama Dirty Tricks forthcoming.

Kidman is currently wrapping The Invasion, a re-make of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and is next delving into the filming of Baz Luhrmann's World War II-era epic Australia, that intertwines a three-way love story with the Japanese attack on Darwin, Australia. She has also recently completed filming on His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass and Margot at the Wedding, from The Squid and the Whale's director, Noah Baumbach. Naomi Watts' upcoming projects include a much talked-about re-make of The Birds, which Alfred Hitchcock make famous. Cinematical will keep you posted as more details on Need become available.

If you didn't know better, you might find it hard to believe that the things that happen to young Augusten Burroughs in the film Running with Scissors actually happened -- and yet, they did. The film opens at a pivotal point in Augusten's life: His mother's decline into madness. When your mother is mentally unstable, your father is an emotionally walled-off alcoholic, and the two of them spend most of their time together embroiled in violent fights that end in threats of murder or suicide, it doesn't make for the most stable of childhoods. Augusten, who worships his mother and tries patiently to get the attention of his father, compensates by being a painfully neat child.

He obsesses over his hair being perfectly conditioned and styled, he dresses nattily in jackets and sweater vests, he decorates his mother's dog, Cream, with aluminum foil, and he boils his allowance and then polishes it with silver polish. When you're a kid whose adult support system is out of control, you take your stability where you can find it, and so Augusten carefully controls those things that are within his limited power.

Odds and ends from Monday:

• I'm not sure how many times we've talked about the film Jumper here on Cinematical, but trust me -- if they jump, we write about it. Rachel Bilson is now set to jump in and replace Teresa Palmer in one of the film's starring roles opposite Hayden Christensen. This marks the second swap-a-roo for Jumper, as earlier this year Christensen (who's more well-known) took over the lead from Tom Sturridge. In the pic (which may or may not turn into a trilogy), Samuel L. Jackson plays an NSA agent placed in charge of tracking a boy with the ability to teleport places. Sweet! Looks like Jackson finally managed to teleport himself into a good role.
• Wayyy back in August of 2005, we told you about Dirty Tricks -- a pic based on the play by John Jeter. The real-life story revolves around the wife of Richard Nixon's attorney general and how she defended her husband following the Watergate scandal. Oh yes, Capote had his turn and now the flavor of the year is Dicky Nixon. Well, director Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, anyone? Running with Scissors?) recently spilled some casting tidbits, noting that Brad Pitt, Sharon Stone and Jim Broadbent will now star alongside Meryl Streep, Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jill Clayburgh. Beat that cast Ron Howard! Murphy hopes to begin shooting next fall with plans to release the film at some point during the fall of 2008.
• [In my best Sly Stallone impersonation]: "Um, yo -- like why you wanna go and sue me? What I ever do to you, huh?" That's right, Rambo is set to face off against his toughest (and dare I say, largest) opponent yet -- those dangerous Weinstein boys. In a suit filed Friday, The Weinstein's contend that they've owned distribution rights to a Rambo sequel since 2004 and, supposedly, producers Nu Image had recently offered distribution to Lionsgate instead. This one looks hot and heavy folks, and we'll be sure to let you know what happens at the next rose ceremony.