Scarlett Johansson to play Janet Leigh in Psycho film

CEBU, Philippines - It is the Hollywood scene that has had women looking over their shoulders in the shower for more than half a century.

Now, another generation will witness the horror of the Bates Motel bathroom as Scarlett Johansson strips off in a revamped version of one of the most chilling big screen murders of all time.

The 27-year-old will play actress Janet Leigh in a film about the making of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic Psycho.

As secretary Marion Crane, Leigh was murdered in the shower at the sinister Bates Motel in a film that was a huge success for the British director.

Two British Oscar winners have also signed up to appear in Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, which is said to be similar in style to My Week With Marilyn, a behind-the-scenes story about Marilyn Monroe’s trip to England.

The film, which will concentrate on an untold chapter in the life of the director, will feature Anthony Hopkins, 74, as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren, 66, as his wife, Alma Reville.

Another British actor, 36-year-old James D’Arcy, who starred in Madonna’s W.E., will play Anthony Perkins, the actor who portrayed serial killer Norman Bates.

It was considered a gamble for Hitchcock to make what was seen as a low brow, low budget horror movie at the height of his career.

The film ended up being independently produced for a little over £500,000 in 1959. The shower scene, which only took up three minutes of screen time, took six days to shoot. (FREEMAN)