Wouldn't it have been nice if Norman didn't lose his mind again, and he and Mary ended up together? Mary was my favorite girlfriend of Norman's. Well, she wasn't really his girlfriend, but I think after a while, it probably could have happened. Just imagine the comedy right there? Lila Loomis has Norman Bates for a son-in-law? LOL
shareIndeed. They didn't get along really, though. Meg and Perkins.
RIP Jean Stapleton. Heaven just got a Dingbat.
Meg was 21 or 22 when this movie was made. She never saw the original and bad mouthed Anthony Perkins on set. Anthony had been making movies well before she was even alive. No wonder he didn't like her.
shareI don't know, but that story smells. If it's true that he got upset because a 20 year old didn't know why he was a star, he was a douche. And if a girl, who gets cast to play in a sequel, doesn't know that her co-star has played in the original and has to ask why he's a/the star, then she's a douche too.
shareAlthough Tilly was young enough to be his daughter, they winningly played off one another as co-stars (whether they got along in real life or their on-screen romance was botched by Mary's duplicity). The producers originally wanted Jamie Lee Curtis to portray Mary (in an homage to Janet Leigh in PSYCHO as Mary would have been Marion's niece and namesake) but JLC had already moved on to other genres, most notably that same year TRADING PLACES! Tilly didn't look as though she'd be the daughter of John Gavin & Vera Miles's Sam & Lila characters either but she was still great in the role!
shareYeah, it's a shame Tony and Meg didn't get along because they had amazing chemistry in this movie. To anyone who has the Blu Ray? Is there a commentary? If so, is it mentioned how they didn't get along?
shareFrom the sources I've read and from Meg Tilly herself, Perkins originally did want her to play Mary, but Tilly, having been prohibited from watching television as a child, had never seen the original film, so she didn't understand why Anthony Perkins was the star. Perkins overheard her saying something to that effect and he apparently turned on her. Tilly named Perkins as her least favorite costar.
Too bad, because I agree that they had great chemistry in the film, and being a fan of both actors, it's kind of disheartening to know that they didn't get along. It doesn't show in the film, though, which is a tribute to their professionalism.
Yeah, I know the story about why they didn't get along, which is sad. Why didn't Meg just tell Tony that she didn't mean it that way, that she hadn't been allowed to watch TV, and didn't really understand? I heard that things worked out in the end, though. Did Tony and Meg ever make up?
shareI'd like to think that they made up but I don't know. From what I've gathered, when the disagreement started a good chunk of the film had already been shot, so maybe she just wanted to avoid any more conflict. I think she may have been easily intimidated and she had a horrendous childhood (something she didn't feel able to talk about until years later). Probably a lot of miscommunication involved too.
Perkins was so meek & mild in real life, never displaying the grandiose ego that many of his contemporaries did so if he was disappointed in Meg not being an avid fan of the original film, he probably dealt with it internally in a more somber manner and most likely just gave her the cold shoulder in a subtle way during the remainder of the production instead of throwing tantrums or acting out. This was his big comeback role in a way, and despite the fact that he didn't befriend Tilly in real life like he did Janet Leigh (after all, Meg was a generation younger than Tony at the time and they probably had very little in common), they totally worked as an odd couple in the film! It was sort of romantic even though he didn't pursue her like he did Maureen in Part 3 (he had a thing for blondes like Hitch and myself, admittedly). I remember after Jamie Lee Curtis turned down the Mary role (she wouldn't have been right for the part anyway), Melanie Griffith was considered (this was a year before BODY DOUBLE and she was on the verge of her own short-lived movie stardom at the time) and she would have been a decent choice but Tilly truly inhabited the Mary persona and her torn loyalties like a pro!
shareWell his character did seem interested in pursuing her romantically when he brought her to his house but Mary wasn't interested in him like that, he did seem kind of bummed out but as a gentleman, he respected that. He told her he still wanted her to stay because he needed her as company, if not a liver than as a friend. Being fresh out of the mental institution and no mother to control him, I think inexperienced Norman was attempting to dive head first into finding himself a girlfriend. I don't think his character had a thing for blonds, I think the 3rd film he fell for Maureen who reminded him of Marion Crane as an homage to the original film.
Don't know if the hostility between the two actors ever dissipated since it went as far as Perkins demanding her character be killed off when originally she survived.
A son in law who also just so happens to be the same age as her (early 50's in this movie).
shareI think he would have been friendzoned.
shareWonder why after being cast in the second movie, the gal would not just watch the first as research, i mean she must have
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