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Re: Psycho: TV series "Bates Motel" to launch in 2013
The first trailer to the new series has been posted at the top! Take a look.
I watched the trailer, and frankly wasn't 'that' impressed. As of now, it just looks like a Canadian-produced prequel to the original film.
Take from that what you want. I'll still watch. It still looks infinitely better than the atrocious first attempt at a "Bates Motel" TV series in 1987.
I just don't like how much Norman and his mother seem to get along, like a ranch owner mother and her innocent son. I always thought Psycho IV was the definitive depiction of what that relationship would've been in comparison to the first film. The sexual overtones Norman's mother had for him, and I unfortunately have know some men that dealt with that psychological issue with their own mothers and I know how much it fucks them up, and Psycho IV depicted it very accurately.
Obviously I haven't seen the series yet, but I would think Norman's mother would be more of less strength, and more emasculating. Granted i'm basing this opinion on just a couple of minutes of footage, but it's just a thought.
Re: Psycho: TV series "Bates Motel" to launch in 2013
'Bates Motel': 5 facts about the 'Psycho' prequel
by James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly
The producers and cast of A&E’s Psycho prequel Bates Motel faced down TV critics on Friday and took questions about the new triller, which stars Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as a teenage Norman Bates and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) as his mother as they open an ill-fated roadside motel. Here’s what we learned:
– There’s nothing supernatural about this horror series. With executive producer Carlton Cuse coming from ABC’s Lost, critics were curious if he was going to add any paranormal (para-Norman?) elements to the show. “No polar bears, no smoke monsters for sure,” Cuse says. “There’s no supernatural elements in play. We view this as a psychological thriller, as a very character based thriller type of story.”
– The show will be serialized; no murder-of-the-week. “Like all the best serialized shows, whether Breaking Bad or Homeland, it’s a kind of a story that takes ten episodes to unfold,” Cuse says. “And there’s some hooks that will hopefully carry us into a second season. We’re not just solving one particular crime. There’s a number of mysteries.”
– The backstory provided in Psycho and its sequels will not determine the story of Bates Motel. Producers say the show was inspired by the original 1960 film, but that’s as far as they’re creatively bound. “There’s a certain amount of baggage that comes from working within the Psycho franchise,” Cuse says. “But it ultimately seemed like far more opportunity … we are going to catch up with a version of the character from the movie, but we don’t feel literally bound, as someone asked earlier, to have Marion Crane come rolling into the Bates Motel.” In other words, the show isn’t, as one critic quipped, How I Stuffed My Mother.
– Vera Farmiga’s portrayal of Norma Bates is more sympathetic than you might expect. Producers point out that what Psycho fans know about Norman’s twisted mother largely comes from her insane son. “I got into this wanting to defend who that woman was,” Farmiga says. “[In the show] she was just such a beautiful portrait of valiant maternity to me … [it's] a beautiful love letter between a mother and her son, and that’s that’s how I perceive the character. There’s an Edvard Munch painting of the Madonna. It’s really warped and it kind of exudes the sacred and the profane and it’s just psychologically gripping, and that’s what I was so drawn to with Norma. She’s a playground for an actress.”
– What drives Norman nuts may be up for debate. “[Norman] kind of indirectly challenges the audience by we all know where he’s going to end up,” Highmore says. “It doesn’t give anything away to say that he’ll go on to be psycho. But is that necessarily because of his upbringing? It’s that sort of argument between nature versus nurture. Is he who he is … or is it because they move to this dodgy town and there’s a sort of weird, intimate relationship between Norma and Norman. And that challenges the audience to think, ‘Well, if I was in that situation, if I had had the upbringing that Norman had had, would I be slightly different?’ You know, we all go a little mad sometimes.”
Bates Motel premieres March 18.
Re: Psycho: TV series "Bates Motel" to launch in 2013
I completely and totally agree. As soon as I saw that, I compared it to Psycho IV, as well as the previous films and kinda choked on my drink.
She is WAY too dominant outside of Norman. To me I always "visioned" Norma Bates as a schizophrenic who was a pussycat to the outside world, but eventually turned shut-in, and ultimately emasculated Norman. Only he saw her "crazy side" or side of strength.
I hope they aren't altering the character for the sake that they have a "name" actress (I guess she is; i've never heard of her).
I hope they remember -- NORMAN is the star of Psycho/Bates Motel. Not his mother. That's why Anthony Perkins so brilliantly played the character across four films is because despite it being about "mother", it was actually about Norman, and despite how much he spoke of 'mother', he still always played it about him in his face and reactions. NORMAN was 'mother'. Not mother is Norman. They need to remember that.
Re: Psycho: TV series "Bates Motel" to launch in 2013
I downloaded all of these, and have yet to watch them. I gotta admit they retooled the show from their original premise. The show is set firmly in the present day, and oddly enough a direct-reboot of the concept for Psycho IV believe it or not.
