Anyone that has heard the Reel Chronicles podcast or has had conversations with me through time is well aware that Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time. If you were asked to name five Alfred Hitchcock movies, your answers would likely include Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest, and while those are among his most popular films, none of them were nominated for Best Picture. In fact, only one Hitchcock-directed film ever won Best Picture: 1941’s Rebecca. As 2020 enters its final stretch, a new attempt at remaking an Alfred Hitchcock masterpieces comes in the form of Rebecca.
Based on Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic novel of the same name, the new adaptation of Rebecca is directed by Ben Wheatley (Free Fire) and stars Lily James as a newly-married woman who finds herself living in the shadow of her husband’s (Armie Hammer) dead first wife. Kristin Scott Thomas, perfectly cast, also features as the dedicated housekeeper of Manderley mansion, Mrs. Danvers
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
A young newlywed arrives at her husband’s imposing family estate on a windswept English coast and finds herself battling the shadow of his first wife Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in the house long after her death. A modern adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s gothic novel comes to Netflix: starring Armie Hammer, Lily James, and Kristin Scott Thomas.
Rebecca premieres on Netflix on October 21.
