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One of my biggest pet peeves that comes with reading Hollywood news day in and day out is having to see the word “Hitchcockian” overused. Whether it’s employed by a writer pitching his project, a studio describing a newly acquired script or a media outlet using the term in reporting on an otherwise formulaic-sounding wrong-man thriller, the practice needs to stop. Especially now that some people are spelling it “Hitchcock’ian.”
First of all, I don’t believe that a plot or even a script can be labeled such. For a movie to be Hitchcockian, in my opinion, it needs to look and act like a Hitchcock film, not just have themes commonly found in those films. Second, even if you wanted to use the term to describe a developing project like Craig Stiles’ The Architect, which *Production Weekly *reports is being picked up by RKO, you’re only making it worse for that film, which no way, no how will end up anywhere close to as good as a real Hitchcock.
Continue reading Memo to Hollywood: Stop Describing Scripts as “Hitchcockian”