Can you spot who this is?

Here’s the first look at Anthony Hopkins filling the shoes of one of the greatest directors of all time in the upcoming film Hitchcock.

The film is about the making of the director’s masterpiece, Psycho, and it just started shooting last week. It also stars Helen Mirren as Hitchcock’s wife Alma, Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh, James D’Arcy as Anthony Perkins, Jessica Biel as Vera Miles, Michael Stuhlbarg as Lew Wasserman and Toni Collette as Hitchcock’s secretary Peggy.

Rumors abound that this is the first role that has actually “excited” Hopkins since playing Hannibal Lecter. I had heard years ago that he had become bored with the roles he was being offered and accepting, and sadly I think in the past ten years or so it has showed. So let’s hope that this role brings the “fire” back into the actor’s belly, and that his performance stands up to this first look.

As often happens in Hollywood, there is another Hitchcock film simultaneously being filmed for BBC2, called The Girl. Starring Toby Jones as the iconic director, it focuses on the obsessive relationship he had with actress Tippi Hedren while filming The Birds.  The gorgeous Sienna Miller is playing Hedren, and Hitchcock’s biographer Donald Spoto is on board to make sure the film is as accurate as possible.

Will this be another Volcano vs. Dante’s Peak, or Deep Impact vs. Armageddon? Only time will tell…