Toby Jones' Biopic Problem

Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock

A few days ago, the first picture of Anthony Hopkins in the film Hitchcock was released. The Sasha Gervasi-helmed film tells the behind the scenes story of the making of Psycho and Hopkins stars as the legendary director. I think the make-up team’s done a fantastic job, though one profile is not much to go by.

But here’s the interesting part: the announcement only came a couple of weeks after the first still of Toby Jones as Hitchcock from the TV movie The Girl. Normally, we’re used to getting two films at once about the same topic - Snow White being the most recent example. But this BBC drama will mark the second time that Toby Jones has played second class citizen to a bigger star in a biopic.

In Infamous, he starred as Truman Capote only a year after Philip Seymour Hoffman recreated the controversial author in Bennett Miller’s Capote and won an Oscar for it. Infamous didn’t generate as much buzz, and although I don’t think as highly of the film and its central performance as I do of Miller’s, I know people who think Jones gave the defter portrayal. Had Hoffman not won an Oscar so recently, could he have gained more acclaim? Who knows, but I think we can all assume that once again, the other Hitchcock portrayal will be the one with all the buzz – especially given the TV nature of Jones’ version.

Toby Jones and Sienna Miller as Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren

Maybe one day Jones can finally get a biopic all to himself? Abe Lincoln and Grace Kelly are out of the question, but there’s gotta be someone else he can play, right?