Broadway star Dan Fogler has been tapped to play iconic director Alfred Hitchcock in Number 13, a comedy-thriller co-starring Ben Kingsley and Ewan McGregor which the actor (also starring in the upcoming Balls Of Fury) likens to Shakespeare In Love. "[The movie is] cool if you're a Hitchcock fan," Fogler says. "Just like Shakespeare in Love, you see how he comes up with certain ideas [for future films] from events that happened during the course of the movie."
Number 13 will concern the real-life mystery of Hitchcock's never-completed debut film of the same name (also known as Mrs. Peabody), which was mysteriously pulled from production and rarely spoken of by the director. Fogler will play Hitchcock in his early 20s, having just finished a comedy commisioned by actor Ernest Thesiger (Kingsley). Unfortunately, Thesiger "just isn't funny," and after he suddenly disappears, Hitchcock makes some creative edits to make it look like his character is killed, which then leads everyone--particularly his editor (McGregor)--to suspect Hitchcock of an actual murder.
P.S. No word yet on whether this is the same project that was rumored to star Little Britain's Matt Lucas, but considering the article that started the rumor also mentions Ewan McGregor, it seems like a good bet that Lucas is out and Fogler is in.
P.P.S. On a personal note: You know, this sounds like it could be great and everything, but I've long been wondering: Why hasn't anyone bothered to make a real Hitchcock biopic yet? Someone should snap up the rights to The Dark Side Of Genius and get cracking.
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