Alexandre O Philippe on Kim Novak: 'She absolutely worships Hitchcock'
This revealing portrait of the elusive actor explores her fiercely independent spirit, iconic role in Vertigo and the life she built beyond Hollywood
‘I really wanted to make a film about Kim and what her core is as a human,’ remarks Alexandre O Philippe. The ‘Kim’ in question is Hollywood Golden Age legend Kim Novak, famed for her dual roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Philippe (Lynch/Oz, The People vs George Lucas) was working on a documentary about this revered thriller when he approached Novak’s manager in a bid to interview the 93-year-old star. What came back was unexpected: an offer to interview Novak for a separate film about her. ‘It completely took me by surprise,’ he admits.
The result, Kim Novak’s Vertigo, deep dives into her time in Hollywood and life after she walked away. ‘That’s the emotional, thematic core of the film: Kim as this extraordinarily independent woman who has always found a way to remain true to herself, in spite of the forces that tried to mould her into someone she was not.’ Despite including a rare unboxing of her original costume on camera, Novak’s time on Vertigo is the film’s centrepiece. Unlike some, she enjoyed a healthy relationship with Hitch. ‘She absolutely worships Hitchcock,’ Philippe says. ‘He was a prankster. One day he left a dead chicken in her locker and didn’t say a word about it. She knew it was him. Who else could it be? But they never talked about it. This is so out of leftfield and shocking; a truly Hitchcockian thing to do!’
Avoiding her personal life (she dated Sammy Davis Jr and David Hemmings among others), Philippe wanted the film to show a career that goes far beyond Vertigo. ‘I think Kim was extraordinarily versatile,’ he says, namechecking movies such as Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid and Robert Aldrich’s The Legend Of Lylah Clare that boast great-if-now-forgotten Novak turns. ‘There was a real depth in terms of the roles that she picked.’
Kim Novak’s Vertigo is in cinemas from Friday 3 April.
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