Kim Novak on Her Venice Film Festival Doc 'Kim Novak's Vertigo': ' It Was a Chance to Wrap Up My Life' Addie MorfootSeptember 1, 2025 at 7:25 AM Courtesy of Venice Film Festival Kim Novak decided to walk away from Hollywood in 1966, at the height of her fame, because it felt like the right thing to ...
- - Kim Novak on Her Venice Film Festival Doc 'Kim Novak's Vertigo': ' It Was a Chance to Wrap Up My Life'
Addie MorfootSeptember 1, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Courtesy of Venice Film Festival
Kim Novak decided to walk away from Hollywood in 1966, at the height of her fame, because it felt like the right thing to do. The screen legend, now 92, also trusted her instincts last year when director Alexandre O. Philippe asked her to be the subject of a documentary.
"I felt somehow that it was meant to be," says Novak.
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Philippe's doc "Kim Novak's Vertigo" blends rare archival footage with personal reflections from Novak to trace her path from mid-century cinema icon to a fiercely private artist.
"I thought it was a good idea to make [this film] in a way because it was a chance to wrap up my life," says Novak. "Like you would in a confessional, I expressed the things that mattered and meant something to my life."
The film debuted Sept. 1 at the Venice Film Festival, where Novak will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
Novak inadvertently became a screen legend at the age of 21 when she traveled to Los Angeles from Chicago in search of modeling jobs. Novak was immediately "discovered" and, after signing a contract at Columbia Pictures, became a Hollywood star. She also became the world's top box office draw during the late 1950s and early 1960s thanks to films now considered classics such as Joshua Logan's "Picnic" (1955), Otto Preminger's "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1955), George Sidney's Pal Joey (1957) and, of course, Alfred Hitchock's "Vertigo" (1958), in which she plays dual characters in the role of her lifetime.
In addition to starring in movies alongside Jimmy Stewart and Frank Sinatra, Novak created her own production company and went on strike to renegotiate a salary. But after a decade or so in the spotlight, Novak abandoned Hollywood for a simpler life in Oregon.
"This Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement celebrates a star who was emancipated, a rebel at the heart of Hollywood who illuminated the dreams of movie lovers before retiring to her ranch in Oregon to dedicate herself to painting and to her horses," said Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera.
Initially, Philippe reached out to Novak about a documentary he was working on that focused on the final sequence of "Vertigo." The director wanted to "get Kim on the record."
"The way it unfolded is that Sue Cameron (Novak's manager) eventually reached out and said she had watched some of my films and she'd been looking for someone to make a portrait of Kim for a long time," says Philippe. "She said, 'I think you're the guy. Would you be interested in talking to Kim?' So, of course, I said yes immediately."
The result is a 77-minute doc that is not a typical chronological biopic of a star, but instead an intimate portrait of a human being reflecting on an extraordinary career, and the, arguably, ordinary upbringing that led to it.
"When you make a portrait of someone, there are a million ways you can approach it, and the last thing that I'm interested in doing is to make a highlight reel," said Philippe. "If you think that is the most relevant story about Kim Novak, then watching this film might not be for you. This is a personal film for Kim, and a personal film for me. This is the first time that I'm putting myself in one of my films, and while it wasn't the intention in the beginning, it became clear very quickly that our connection is what gives the film an emotional spine. It's about understanding Kim and uncovering her personal truth, as well as my passion for 'Vertigo.'"
In the doc, Novak reveals that her father wasn't a fan of her success and that her mother always told her that she "was the captain of her own ship."
"I had no idea really how much of an influence [my mother] was having on me to do as she believed and wanted me to follow through on," says Novak. "Because I think she probably felt how important that was and that maybe she wanted me to do all the things that she wished she could have done."
Novak invited Philippe to go through her attic, which contained a treasure trove of photographs, diaries, and scrapbooks.
"There were boxes upon boxes upon boxes in her attic," says Philippe. "One of the greatest joys of working on this project was that when she opened her attic to me, we would go through everything in real time. She didn't know what was in there — I found some things of hers that she didn't know existed. Things that she hadn't seen in probably decades. That process of discovery was so special and fun."
One box, that hadn't been open in decades, contained the gray suit Novak wore as Madeleine Elster in "Vertigo."
"My memory of that suit is how much I didn't like it," Novak says. "It was stiff. I always felt like I was wearing a straitjacket. I also just didn't like the way it looked on me. I didn't identify with it, but of course, that's what made it right in the movie."
Philippe captures Novak unsealing the box.
"When I opened the box and touched it, it suddenly wasn't stiff," says Novak. "It was so soft. It had gotten soft over the years, and it made me realize how I probably got softer in my years, too, through experience. That touched me deeply because it showed how time can make such a difference in how you look at things and how you definitely learn to appreciate everything in life. The closer you get to death, you realize what an incredible thing life is."
The film also delves into Novak's feelings about her beauty, which she describes as "wearing a crown of thorns."
"I still look at it that way," says Novak. "Of course, it's what got me there, but because to me, especially in Hollywood, it was a handicap in a way. I mean. It's why they always wanted me to play parts that were about how you looked more than how you feel. There were movies that I would have loved to have been a part of because I could have gotten into the depth of my feelings rather than just reacting to how I looked."
Novak's complicated, love-hate relationship with Hollywood is dissected throughout the documentary.
"Ultimately, the film is about a woman who has had to fight constantly to remain true to herself, against forces that tried to mold and shape her into someone she was not," says Philippe. "The film, of course, is called "Kim Novak's Vertigo," and the structure of the film is a four-act structure, but it's a spiral structure. We keep coming back to this idea of Kim leaving Hollywood, but each time we come back to that, it is for a different reason."
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Kim Novak on Her Venice Film Festival Doc 'Kim Novak's Vertigo': ' It Was a Chance to Wrap Up My Lif...
