![]() Laurence Olivier plays Maxim de Winter, the widower grieving the loss of his first wife, Rebecca. Hitchcock emphasised the Gothic quality of the novel, drawing out its disturbing sexual dynamics. It was a far more fruitful collaboration. Nonetheless, Hitchcock immediately set to work adapting another du Maurier book, ‘Rebecca’. Sure enough, Laughton dominated the film, his overblown performance described by Time magazine as “magnificent in the eye-rolling, head-cocking, lip-pursing, massively mincing Laughton style.” Du Maurier hated the film and Hitchcock all but disowned it. ![]() Intended as a vehicle for Laughton, it left little room for the director’s own creative input. Hitchcock knew du Maurier well, having previously worked with her actor-manager father, but had misgivings about the project. Actor Charles Laughton purchased the film rights and appointed Alfred Hitchcock as director. ![]() Smuggling thriller ‘Jamaica Inn’ was the first du Maurier novel to be brought to the big screen. Another title will soon be added to that list when a new adaptation of ‘My Cousin Rachel’, starring Rachel Weisz and directed by Roger Michell, is released in June, 2017. To date, her many novels, stories and plays have spawned a least 12 film adaptations and more than 40 television dramatisations. Her work offers swashbuckling romance, Gothic psychodrama, crime and sexual intrigue. It’s no surprise that filmmakers have flocked to Daphne du Maurier’s stories.
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