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Oh my, it really IS a week to be thankful!!!

 

Just in time for the release of Sacha Gervasi’s excellent Hitchcock, the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly features the very first production photo of A&E’s upcoming original drama series, “Bates Motel” (above)! We finally get our first look at Freddie Highmore as a modern-day, younger version of the notorious Norman Bates in this prequel to Robert Bloch’s pulp novel, later made infamous by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller Psycho. As you can see, he’s joined on the (untended to) front lawn by the lovely Vera Farmiga, who will be playing his eventually ill-fated mother.

 

I’m certainly happy to see the oh-so familiar Bates House looming ominously in the background, even if it’s a reconstruction in Vancouver, where the series is being shot, and not the original house on the Universal Studios backlot. Point is, they are not shying away from the source material too far by creating a completely new house. So, good news there!

 

Judging by Vera’s appearance in this shot – i.e.: that of a naughty librarian – it would seem that the writers intend to play up the Oedipal Complex aspects of Norman’s relationship with his mother. I am having a tough time imagining how the writers will be able to translate Mother’s original hang-ups (that being a Victorian-era holdover with major sexual repression issues) into a modern-day setting. Perhaps they will make her a religious fanatic type, in the vein of Carrie’s mother in Carrie? It’s also heavily implied in the original novel and film that Mrs. Bates is mentally ill, so that can definitely be a focal point.

 

At any rate, I’m really intrigued to see what this series has in store!

 

 

- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor

katie@younghollywood.com