It’s no secret that Alfred Hitchcock was a controlling director.
Not only did he famously call actors cattle, Hitchcock also had no qualms about misleading studio executives in order to make “North by Northwest,” a passion project.
Simply put, Hitchcock was cunning and skilled enough to get his way — and made it known when he didn’t.But despite the director’s track record, there was one thing he couldn’t control: cats.
While the animals likely would’ve made a great addition to Hitchcock’s pictures — after all, they’re stereotypically sly animals and would feel right at home in a suspenseful Hitchcock thriller — he was simply unable to master the art of cat-whispering.In an interview with fellow director François Truffaut, Hitchcock revealed that he had initially planned to have around a hundred cats lounging around a gang hideout in “Number Seventeen,” a comedy thriller that was made relatively early in the so-called master of suspense’s career.
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