What made director Alfred Hitchcock's philosophy and practice of casting parts in his films a ...

Casting is characterization, Hitchcock pointed out. Once a role has been
cast, especially with a personality star, the essence of the fictional character is already
established. In a sense, stars are more real than other characters; that is why many
people refer to a character by the actor's name, rather than by the name of the person
in the story. After working with Hitchcock on the script of Strangers on a Train, the
novelist Raymond Chandler ridiculed the director's method of characterization: His
idea of character is rather primitive, Chandler complained: Nice Young Man,
Society Girl, Frightened Woman, and so on. Like many literary types, Chandler
believed that characterization must be created through language. He was insensitive
to the other options available to a filmmaker. For example, Hitchcock was a cunning
exploiter of the star systema technique that has nothing to do with language. For
his leading ladies, for instance, he favored elegant blondes with an understated
sexuality and classy, ladylike mannersin short, the Society Girl type.