FILM · 1998
Psycho
50 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (50)
- #001
For Psycho (1960), Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted the opening shot to be one long, uninterrupted pull-back and zoom from over the city into Marion's hotel room. The technology was not yet perfected, so he achieved the effect with a series of pans and dissolves. The remake executes the full traveling shot exactly as Hitchcock intended.
- #002
During shooting, Gus Van Sant brought in a DVD player and played the original Psycho (1960), which they used as a reference. When he noticed a mistake (a door opening without a key), Van Sant decided to include the same mistake in his film.
- #003
The final frame of the film is a skull superimposed over Vince Vaughn's face. It is the same skull placed over Anthony Perkins's face in the final frame of Psycho (1960).
- #004
Screenwriter Joseph Stefano felt that Anne Heche, despite saying the same lines as Janet Leigh, played Marion Crane in a completely different way.
- #005
In the film's final scene, Anne's monologue is a multi-channel mix of three voices: Anne from this version, a male voice (presumably Norman), and Anne from Psycho (1960).
- #006
Apart from a few modern additions (Lila Crane's headphones and some of the music in the score), the remake follows the original's story and camera setups almost exactly.
- #007
When Robert Forster received the script, he believed the producers had accidentally sent him a copy of the Psycho (1960) script, and had his manager contact them to request a copy of the new script. Director Gus Van Sant then contacted Forster personally to confirm that they were using the same script as the original film.
- #008
William H. Macy was reportedly so eager to work with director Gus Van Sant that he said he would appear in an adaptation of the phone book if Van Sant were directing it. He also said that most people signed on expecting Van Sant to put his own interpretation on the film. Although Macy was very happy with the character he played, he called the film itself an "ill-begotten picture" because Van Sant decided to make a faithful remake.
- #009
Laura Linney was offered the role of Marion Crane but turned it down in favor of The Truman Show (1998).
- #010
In Mr. Lowery's office, the following exchange is heard: CASSIDY (to Marion): You should take a vacation to the world's playground, Las Vegas! MARION: Thank you, but I think I'll spend this weekend in bed. CASSIDY: The only playground that could beat Las Vegas. The last line was in the original script Sir Alfred Hitchcock used for Psycho (1960), but he had to delete it because of censorship. Gus Van Sant included it in Psycho (1998) as Hitchcock originally intended.
- #011
In the original film, Marion Crane embezzled $40,000 from her employer. Although the amount Marion steals in the original equals $181,000 in 1998 dollars, the remake raised the figure to $400,000 to account for inflation.
- #012
In the famous shower scene where Anne Heche's character is stabbed to death, the blood on the shower tiles, the knife and Heche's wounds were all added digitally after filming to heighten the shock value.
- #013
In the scene where Sir Alfred Hitchcock appeared in the original film, Gus Van Sant, in his own small role, is talking to a man wearing a cowboy hat. Apparently Hitchcock was supposed to be scolding Van Sant.
- #014
The film was shot in six weeks, just like Psycho (1960).
- #015
The new house and motel sets were built directly in front of the original sets.
- #016
Bernard Herrmann's score for Psycho (1960) was adapted for this remake by Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek. Elfman and Bartek used vintage microphones for the recording.
- #017
William H. Macy felt that Arbogast's fall down the stairs before his death in Psycho (1960) did not look convincing, and volunteered to actually throw himself down the stairs. However, Gus Van Sant was determined to recreate the original shot in full detail using rear projection, as Sir Alfred Hitchcock had done. Unlike the original film, though, Arbogast is slashed across the face twice before falling and screams audibly as he falls. There is also a brief point-of-view shot of "Mrs. Bates" coming down the stairs.
- #018
Norman's first scene (where he and Marion first meet) was Vince Vaughn's first day of shooting. He was very nervous and struggled to control the tense energy his character would bring to the screen. Judging by that day's footage, it was clear that Vaughn's performance would not work, and director Gus Van Sant decided to reshoot quickly on his first day. Rather than blame the performance for the necessary reshoots, however, Van Sant told the producers that he "didn't like the motel room keys" [pasted on the wall next to the front desk] and wanted them changed.
- #019
The Bates Motel sign reads "Newly Renovated."
- #020
Jeanette Nolan, who voiced Anne in the original film, died shortly before the remake's premiere.
- #021
Although the original exterior of the motel from Psycho (1960) had long since been demolished, the exterior motel set seen in this remake was originally built for Psycho II (1983). The house, however, was a new set built on the Universal Studios backlot directly in front of the old house. After filming was completed, they moved this second house next to the first for the backlot tour.
- #022
At the start of the film, when Marion Crane enters the office after her lunch break, she is talking to someone who looks just like Sir Alfred Hitchcock. In Psycho (1960), Hitchcock had a cameo in the same scene.
- #023
The buttons on Marion Crane's dress have the same pattern as the buttons on the shower curtain.
- #024
Anne Heche was the only one among the cast who had never seen Psycho (1960) before being chosen for the role of Marion Crane.
- #025
Gus Van Sant does not consider the remake to be a copy of Sir Alfred Hitchcock's original film. He stated, "If I hold a camera, it magically becomes the character, even in the same place. Our 'Psycho' showed that you really can't be appropriate. Or you can, but it won't be the same thing."
- #026
Tobey Maguire, Christian Bale, Robert Sean Leonard, Jeremy Davies, Henry Thomas and Joaquin Phoenix were considered for the role of Norman Bates. Thomas had previously played Bates in his youth in Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).
- #027
In 1998, Viggo Mortensen appeared for the second time in a remake of a Sir Alfred Hitchcock classic. The first was A Perfect Murder (1998), a remake of Dial M for Murder (1954).
- #028
During Arbogast's murder, two-second, unrelated scenes are inserted. Immediately after the first knife strike, a scene appears of a naked blonde woman wearing a black half-mask. She is lying, lying on her side, and turns her head toward the camera. After the second knife strike, a calf is seen in the middle of a foggy village road.
- #029
As in the original film, the scene in which Marion Crane talks to the police officer on the highway was the first scene to be shot.
- #030
The opening shot of Marion's car as the highway patrolman approaches was filmed outside Gorman, California, at exactly the same spot where the original scene was shot.
- #031
The remake was not universally approved of; director Alexander Payne could not imagine Psycho (1960) in color because it was far more chilling in black and white.
- #032
The opening shot zooms in near the Westward Ho Hotel just north of downtown Phoenix. The corresponding shot in Psycho (1960) shows the Heard Building, which at the time had a radio broadcast antenna on it, but the tower had been removed by the time of the remake. Gus Van Sant used the Westward Ho, which still exists.
- #033
Nicole Kidman was offered the role of Marion Crane but turned it down due to a scheduling conflict. Drew Barrymore was also considered for the same role.
- #034
While remaking Psycho (1960), Gus Van Sant wanted to flesh out the supporting characters. He felt that the only fully developed character in the original film was Norman Bates, and that everyone else existed only to advance the plot. He trusted the actors to develop their motivations better. William H. Macy tried to play Milton Arbogast as Martin Balsam had, but Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore tried to interpret their roles differently from how Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles had played them. For example, Moore made Lila Crane more aggressive. Also, the psychiatrist's long explanation of Norman's condition was shortened in Van Sant's version. These changes were added to make the film accessible to a modern audience.
- #035
Early in the film, as Marion Crane (Anne Heche) drives through the main street of the town she has just entered, she passes a bus stop with a poster for the romantic comedy Six Days Seven Nights (1998), in which Heche also starred.
- #036
The credits state that the kitchen knife belongs to John Woo.
- #037
Robert Forster's character is named Dr. Simon, and he was named after the actor who originally played the role, Simon Oakland.
- #038
This was the final cinematic appearance of Roy Brocksmith, who played a Hitchcock-like character talking with Gus Van Sant outside Marion Crane's office window.
- #039
At the time of the film's release, some critics thought Vince Vaughn and Viggo Mortensen should have swapped roles (apparently Mortensen could play a creepy role and Vaughn could easily play a normal man).
- #040
Claire Danes was considered for the role of Marion Crane, but she was thought to be too young. Winona Ryder was also considered.
- #041
As in the original 1960 version, the stunt double who played "Mother" in the shower scene had to wear black makeup on her face to prevent the reflections of the set lights from making her facial features visible.
- #042
According to the website 'The Psycho Movies', "some irredeemable Hitchcock fans boycotted the film with picket signs during its world premiere in Los Angeles." It is now regarded by many as the worst remake ever made.
- #043
Before making this film, Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche appeared opposite each other in Return to Paradise (1998), which was also the first feature film of Vera Farmiga, who shared a scene with them. Years later, Vera Farmiga played Norma Bates in the television series Bates Motel (2013).
- #044
In Psycho (1960), after Norman moves his mother's corpse from the bedroom to the fruit cellar, the next scene is Sam and Lila meeting Sheriff Al Chambers and his wife at the church — when the service ends, Chambers gives Lila and Sam an update on what he discovered after visiting Norman Bates at the motel. This version has no church scene. It goes directly to Lila and Sam heading to the Bates Motel.
- #045
Robert Forster appeared alongside Anthony Perkins, who played Norman Bates in the original film, in the Disney space opera The Black Hole (1979).
- #046
When Marion Crane enters the used-car dealership, Rob Zombie's song "Living Dead Girl" is playing on the radio, which may foreshadow her fate at the Bates Motel.
- #047
The film's cast includes Oscar winner Julianne Moore and three nominees: William H. Macy, Viggo Mortensen and Robert Forster.
- #048
Anne Heche and Julianne Moore both started out in daytime soap operas and won Daytime Emmy Awards for playing twin sisters. Heche played Vicky/Marley on Another World, while Moore played Frannie/Sabrina on As The World Turns. In Psycho they play the sisters Marion and Lila Crane.
- #049
Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore had previously appeared together in the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Meanwhile, William H. Macy would later appear in the series' next sequel, Jurassic Park III (2001).
- #050
It was inspired by the crimes and working methods of Ed Gein, who also inspired Jame Gumb/"Buffalo Bill" in The Silence of the Lambs. Julianne Moore appeared in that film's sequel, Hannibal. The characters in both films (Lila Crane, Clarice Starling) are named after a bird species.
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