New trailer: Watch Anthony Hopkins channel Alfred Hitchcock

The trailer: Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most celebrated film directors in history — but will a movie about the auteur prove to be as compelling? Audiences can decide by watching the new trailer for Hitchcock, a biopic (out Nov. 23) starring Anthony Hopkins as the director. (Watch the trailer for Hitchcock below.) The film, which co-stars Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, and Jessica Biel, chronicles the director's personal and professional troubles during the making of 1960's Psycho. Hitchcock looks to be a far more sympathetic take on the director than HBO's competing film, The Girl, in which Toby Jones plays Hitchcock as he torments leading lady Tippi Hedren while filming 1963's The Birds. Jones already won praise after the trailer for The Girl was released last month. Has Hopkins managed to steal some of the attention?

The reaction: It's no surprise that Hopkins "fits hand in glove" as Hitchcock, and will probably be nominated for an Academy Award, says Kevin Jagernauth at Indie Wire. But Helen Mirren, who plays Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville, "is looking very strong as a possible [Oscar] nominee as well." The two are on "their A-game in this clip," agrees Christopher Rosen at The Huffington Post. And though the film hasn't been treated as a serious contender in this year's Academy race, the new trailer might change everything, says Katey Rich at Cinema Blend: "Hitchcock is looking like a much bigger deal than we might have expected."

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