Interview (Video): Evan Hunter

Screenwriter reflects on working on Hitchcock thriller “The Birds”.

Born Salvatore Albert Lombino, Evan Hunter was born on October 15, 1926 in New York City, New York, USA as Salvatore Albert Lombino. He was a writer, known for The Birds (1963), High and Low (1963) and Blackboard Jungle (1955). He died on July 6, 2005 in Weston, Connecticut, USA.

He penned more than 100 novels, plays, and film scripts, and his Ed McBain “87th Precinct” novels were the inspiration for the TV series Hill Street Blues.

In this interview, Hunter talks about how he was approached to work on The Birds and said he would have worked with Hitchcock if he had asked him to work on “a telephone book”.

Hunter explains how Hitchcock decided he only wanted to keep the title and the central conceit of the Daphne Du Maurier novel on which the movie is based: birds attacking people. Hunter came up with this angle: “We should do a screwball comedy which becomes a terror.” They originally started out with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant as the dream cast.

Obviously the story evolved over time.

Here is the interview with Hunter:

And here is a promotional ‘lecture’ provided by Hitchcock featuring his typically morbid wit:

I can’t remember who flagged the Hunter video on my Twitter feed, but whoever you are, thanks.

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