First Look Trailer For HBO's The Girl Sets A Tense Mood

It always takes an act of bravery on the part of an actor to take on the role of an iconic person in history. The scrutiny of fans is more critical with this type of role than in any other. So Toby Jones and Sienna Miller have their work cut out for them playing Alfred Hitchcock and his leading lady Tippi Hedren, and from the first look at them in the newly released trailer, it looks promising.

For HBO’s The Girl, Toby Jones plays Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense whose silhouette alone is enough to make most people start humming the theme music to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Sienna Miller takes on the role of Tippi Hedren, the actress who was basically plucked out of obscurity by Hitchcock to take on the leading role in The Birds, now a horror movie classic. The film looks at the relationship between them during the making of two films together, and Hitchcock’s obsession with the blonde actress. This first look trailer for the movie gives a glimpse of each in their difficult role, and creates a feeling of tension and even a bit of Hitchcock-like suspense.

Playing a famous character is less about looking exactly like that person and more about capturing their essence and bringing them back to life on the screen. The trailer is a bit too short to give a really good idea of how they’ll tackle the roles, but so far I’m hopeful and reserving full judgment. No doubt some classic movie fans are going to come down hard on them, but this effort so far looks better than most.