Scarlett Johansson Opens Up About Reenacting Iconic Shower Scene from "Psycho"

She invokes Janet Leigh.

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The main storyline of the upcoming film Hitchcock revolves around what director Alfred Hitchcock had to go through to get his 1960 classic, Psycho, made.

Part of that includes the original film's now legendary shower scene, which found its star Janet Leigh, killed. Scarlett Johansson plays Leigh in Hitchcock, and in a bit of meta-narrative, had to shoot a scene that recreates shooting the scene (stay with us here).

"We only had the luxury to shoot the scene for a day, and everybody was feeling very nervous because it involved water and nobody wants the actor to get wet," she tells V magazine. "They were concerned with modesty and all these things– but I don't care about any of that stuff and Janet Leigh never did either."

Johansson had to go topless for the scene. She also had to act very afraid, because that's what the original film called for.

"You have got to be brave, get into the shower, and face Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock jabbing you in the face with a 12-inch kitchen knife," she says. "As much as Anthony Hopkins is a pussycat, he's terrifying. Maybe I watched Silence of the Lambs too many times when I was a kid. Maybe I was having some flashbacks. So I didn't need too much preparation for the scene."

Hitchcock hits theaters November 23.

[via PEOPLE]

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