The BBC plans to air a movie based on Tippi Hedren's account of her relationship with Alfred Hitchcock when she was "discovered" by him to portray the lead character in the 1962 movie The Birds . Among other things, she has claimed that she had to rebuff Hitchcock's sexual advances during the making of that film and the follow-up, Marnie. She reportedly was interviewed extensively by screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes for the project, and Donald Spoto, who wrote a largely unflattering biography of Hitchcock in 1999 ( The Dark Side of Genius The Life of Alfred Hitchcock ), will reportedly act as a consultant on the movie. British actress Sienna Miller has been signed to play Hedren in the movie, Toby Jones, to play Hitchcock, and Imelda Staunton has agreed to play Hitchcock's wife Alma. In a statement, Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning, said, "This wonderful film is a riveting psychological portrait of Alfred Hitchcock's obsession with Tippi Hedren, and in Toby Jones and Sienna Miller we have dream casting to bring this to life with glorious veracity."

07/12/2011