First image of Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock

Get ready to do a double take, as the first image of Anthony Hopkins as iconic director Alfred Hitchcock has been revealed... and it’s truly an uncanny likeness.

Best known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in 1991 thriller 'The Silence of the Lambs', Hopkins is almost unrecognisable in the recently released image.

That famous Hitchcock profile is present and correct on the actor portraying him in Sacha Gervasi’s new film ‘Hitchcock’ - originally called ‘Alfred Hitchcock And The Making Of Psycho’.

Helen Mirren will play opposite Hopkins, as Hitchcock’s wife Alma, Scarlett Johansson is portraying actress Janet Leigh, Jessica Biel plays Vera Miles, and James D’Arcy has taken on the role of Anthony Perkins.

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The latest - and very surprising - name to join the cast is Ralph Macchio (‘The Karate Kid’), playing Joe Stefano, the writer of ‘Psycho’.

The movie will chart the struggle that Hitchcock had making the horror movie, when all around him thought that it was beneath him.

Production started on the film last Friday, and it looks set to hit cinemas in 2013.