To ensure that none of the animals was harmed, the American Society For the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) assumed an active role in the production. Berwick oversaw an entire bird-wrangling team whose members spent a huge amount of time corralling their feathered co-workers between takes. Most of these were wild-caught crows, ravens, seagulls, and sparrows. Through a meticulous positive reinforcement process, animal handler Ray Berwick trained hundreds of live birds for use in Hitchcock’s movie. We’re just keeping the title and the notion of birds attacking people.” The result was a screenplay Hunter described as “a screwball comedy that turns into terror.” 2. Hunter remembered that, during an early telephone conversation, the director told him “We’re getting rid of the du Maurier story entirely. Once Hitchcock bought the rights to du Maurier’s avian yarn, he hired screenwriter Evan Hunter to pen a script. However, his adaptation would not be a faithful retelling. Hitchcock liked the basic premise and wanted to put “The Birds” on film. One of the book’s highlights is a chilling tale called “The Birds.” An environmentally-conscious fable, it’s about a population of birds who start attacking humans after a harsh winter depletes their natural food supply. In 1952, du Maurier published The Apple Tree: A Short Novel and Some Stories. In 1940, he took Rebecca-du Maurier’s gothic masterwork which continues to sell 50,000 copies a year-and converted it into an Oscar-winning drama starring Laurence Olivier. Over the course of his career, he adapted three of du Maurier's stories, beginning with his 1939 film version of her thrilling novel Jamaica Inn. IT WAS THE THIRD DAPHNE DU MAURIER STORY THAT HITCHCOCK ADAPTED.ĭaphne du Maurier's work has been adapted dozens of times for film and television projects, and Alfred Hitchcock was a particular fan of the London-born author and playwright. Hitchcock’s next picture was The Birds, a technical marvel against which all creature features-from Jaws to Cujo-are now measured. Just when it seemed as though there was nothing left for him to prove, he climbed right back into the director’s chair. In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock unleashed Psycho, his most financially successful film and a trendsetting horror classic. There’s an old saying in Hollywood: You’re only as good as your last movie.
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