Psycho II (film) - Development

Development

In 1982, author Robert Bloch published his novel Psycho II, which satirized Hollywood slasher films. Upset by this, Universal decided to make their own version that differed from Bloch's work. Originally, the film was intended as a made-for-cable production. Anthony Perkins originally turned down the offer to reprise the role of Norman Bates, but when the studio became interested in others (including Christopher Walken), Perkins quickly accepted. The studio also wanted Jamie Lee Curtis (daughter of Psycho star Janet Leigh) to play the role of Mary Loomis.

Director Richard Franklin was hired to direct Psycho II because he was a Hitchcock student and even visited him on the set of Topaz, and because a year earlier, Franklin made a film called Roadgames starring Jamie Lee Curtis which was influenced by Hitchcock's 1954 film Rear Window. Franklin hired writer Tom Holland to write the screenplay after Franklin had seen The Beast Within, which Holland had written. Holland stated: "I approached it with more trepidation because I was doing a sequel to Psycho and I had an overwhelming respect for Hitchcock. You didn't want to mess it up, you really had almost a moral obligation to make something that stayed true to the original and yet updated it the same time. It really was the next step, what happens when Norman gets out".

Assistant director of the original Psycho, Hilton A. Green was contacted and asked if he wanted to produce the film. Green, fearing that Hitchcock may not have approved of sequels to his films, called Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock and asked what she thought of the film. Patricia Hitchcock gave her blessing to the film; saying that her father would have loved it.