Ben Affleck is a very busy man. The actor has just finished promoting his latest collaboration with Matt Damon, Air, and now he already has a new new movie coming too: Hypnotic.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Hypnotic is a mind-bending science fiction thriller, which has been compared to the likes of Inception and Memento (although, the film has unfortunately been on the receiving end of some less than stellar reviews).
However, Rodriguez had an entirely different ambition for what he wanted his movie to be like. Instead of Nolan, Rodriguez looked to Alfred Hitchcock and some of his best thriller movies for inspiration.
Speaking with Collider, the director said, “People would say, ‘What’s this Hypnotic?’ And I would just say, ‘It’s Hitchcock on steroids’. What I meant, really, was the pace. I thought, you know, [Alfred] Hitchcock films were older films, and I thought, I would love to bring a relentless pace to a thriller. I think that would be really fun.”
He continued, “I just thought, I just want to make this thing pull you along to where you don’t really realize how fast this movie is.”
Hitchcock is known for being one of the best directors of all time, having created the likes of Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, and North by Northwest. In other words, some of the best movies ever made. The director was a titan within the thriller genre, helping to shape it with his defining influence. Whether or not Rodriguez’s Hypnotic reaches the same level of influence remains to be seen.
To keep up with the best 2023 movies on the way, take a look at our guide to the Oppenheimer release date, Barbie release date, and Dune 2 release date. You can also read our Air review for an Affleck movie which has critics less divided.