On the set of The Trial (1962), Anthony Perkins experienced what he later called his “greatest professional pride” as an actor. Despite the film’s nightmarish tone, production photos by Nicolas Tikhomiroff capture Perkins and director Orson Welles sharing moments of “giggles and laughs” between intense takes.
Welles directed Perkins to approach the role of Josef K. as a black comedy rather than a straight tragedy. He reportedly dubbed some of Perkins’ lines himself and later challenged the actor to identify which ones were dubbed; Perkins was unable to tell the difference. Welles chose Perkins specifically to leverage his public persona, fresh off his role in Psycho (1960), to project a sense of repression and “fear of exposure” that fit the Kafkaesque narrative.
Much of the movie was shot in the Gare d'Orsay, a massive, abandoned Paris train station that provided the film’s signature vast, oppressive spaces. On-set, Perkins delivered a performance marked by “nervousness and stuttering,” which Welles encouraged to emphasize Josef K.’s bewilderment within the bureaucratic maze. Perkins filmed a significant scene involving an “electronic brain” and a scientist (played by Katina Paxinou) that was ultimately cut from the final film by Welles at the last minute.
Despite Welles’ demanding nature, the two had a productive relationship. Welles considered The Trial his best film, and Perkins’ performance is often cited as the “grounding” element that kept the surreal, nightmare-like production from becoming too abstract. For Perkins, the role was a chance to move away from American typecasting and into European “art-house” cinema, which he continued to pursue throughout the 1960s.
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