In Sacha Gervasi’s “Hitchcock,” director Alfred Hitchcock begins the production of “Psycho” by having his cast and crew swear an oath not to divulge any of the film’s secrets.

The first day of filming of “Hitchcock” itself followed a different route, with Gervasi, who was making his narrative feature debut on the film, feeling both “wonderful” and “panic.”

In this excerpt from the fourth annual Envelope Directors Roundtable, our panel of six filmmakers--Tom Hooper (“Les Miserables”), Ben Affleck (“Argo”), Gervasi (“Hitchcock”), David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”) and Kathryn Bigelow (“Zero Dark Thirty”) -- recount the launch of production.

Some of the tales were epic--Hooper climbed a mountain with Hugh Jackman at the start of “Les Miserables“--and some were comic: Bigelow had to figure out how to distract 2,000 spectators when cameras started rolling on “Zero Dark Thirty.” And Affleck, who shot much of “Argo” in the offices of the Los Angeles Times, had to fend off pesky journalists who wanted to visit his set.

Watch the full video above.

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The Envelope Screening Series: “Argo”

The Envelope Screening Series: “Les Miserables”

The Envelope Screening Series: Complete videos