Film Adaptation of SUNSET BOULEVARD in the Works! Will Glenn Close Reprise Her Role?- Page 2

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 7:55pm

I mean, in my dreams Patti would take Sunset to the silver screen and bring her rage and fury to create the perfect Norma - the one encaptulated in her final performance, which is, what I consider, the peak of Norma's material. Of course, she would never take the part nor would she be considered. But I can still dream, right?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4sVjqAqaTs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFzD-ddoUcg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft3gUoQMyzc

 

PS I thought Zeta-Jones was banned from musicals after her horrific Tony performance. Kidding, of course :)

[BobbyBubbi]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 8:00pm

Egads! The saga continues.

It boggles the mind to wonder how this turkey would ever translate to film.

The original film is camp which informs Webber's stage adaptation (bigger than life, theatrical, ect.) But to then try and shove it back into it's original medium is a recipe for disaster in my opinion.

Can someone please whip up a screenplay about the Patti LuPone and Webber lawsuit? Not THATS the movie I was to see . . .Helena Bonham Carter can play Patti.

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 8:10pm

I saw Patti Lupone do the show in London. I saw Glenn Close on Broadway. Patti was far superior.

Glenn Close's voice was nothing next to Patti. Glenn wasn't even a real human being. She was the Carol Burnett Norma Desmond on stage.

I felt the trouble with Patti was that she was too sexy. You could actually believe that Joe would enjoy have sex with her. I believe, You are supposed to be a little repulsed at the idea.

Patti looks very Italian. She didn't have the face of a Silent Scree Star. But Glenn doesn't either, they just put so much bizarre make up on her it looked weird. 

Patti did sing her ass off during that performance. She was really something.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 8:18pm

ChgoTheatreGuy said: "I remember Mr. Lloyd Webber saying that if the film was going to be made that he wanted Madonna to play Norma.  I don't know if this would mean she would have to do more vocal training, like she did for "Evita".  I don't even know if she would be interested in playing a has been, unless their was Oscar talk behind it...I LOVE the original film, saw Glenn Close on Broadway and was severely disappointed...

I fear that Glenn Close is too old for the movie, although maybe I am wrong...after all, they could slant the story to have Norma attempting to film a new version of Gypsy, instead of Salome.  The insanity angle is that she is at least 30 years too old for the role and fails to recognize that.  

I actually think Madonna is perfect for Norma Desmond.  She is close to the right age, has always looked like an old time movie star, and is certainly self-possessed.  I thought she was fine in Evita and am not sure that anyone could have been better for the film that was produced.  (Yes, that is a left handed complement).  But, I do think she could be great as Norma, if she would take direction.  Would need a strong director.

Streisand is too damn old for this too.

"

 

Updated On: 1/4/16 at 08:18 PM

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 8:37pm

I prefer Madonna in Evita. The harmonies that Mandi and Patti sing grate on my ears.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 8:38pm

I actually think Madonna is perfect for Norma Desmond.

 

But if she doesn't have the vocal range or the acting chops, it would be far from perfect.  She was serviceable in a weak screen adaptation of Evita that downplayed Eva's emotional range and removed all the power of vocal performance.  That was Madonna's best acting performance and it was over 20 years ago.  In recent years, Madonna can barely even act interested in an interview.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 10:03pm

Madonna is a great entertainer but she's a horrible actress. She wasn't bad in EVITA, but the film was basically shot as a long music video, and though she wasn't bad, she wasn't great. She certainly isn't the force that Eva Peron is supposed to be and I can't see why anyone who knows about the character of Nosma Desmond would think of Madonna as "the perfect Norma Desmond."

I am a Zeta-Jones defender through and through. To discredit her acting career based on a misguided Tony performance when she was sick and was dealing with issues related to bipolar disorder is ridiculous. And if you are going to bring up the Tony performance, she was actually very Norma Desmond-esque in it.

 

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 10:11pm

Stranger things have obviously happened, but given that the film is considered such a classic, it seems unnecessary and a little foolish to bring it to the screen. It's one thing to adapt the screenplay for the stage, but why make a film version of it that is bound to be compared unfavorably with the original?

Updated On: 1/4/16 at 10:11 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 10:32pm

Glenn is too old. Part of the sadness and/or shock of Norma's plight as a "has-been" is that she isn't all that old. She's 50, not 70 or 90. Just 50. Gloria Swanson looked great for her age. But that' wasn't good enough. She was her age. And "dead" as far as playing the young leading lady ever again.

 

No actress around now would have the guts to play that part at the proper age. of 50 (or approaching it). You need Nicole Kidman or Catherine Zeta-Jones or Cate Blanchett or Kate Winslet. And none of them would do it. They are the right age for the part. That's the "horror" of Norma's plight.

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 10:34pm

This just popped into my head. What about Jessica Lange? I think she has the grit to do it, and even though she's 66, she doesn't look over 50 in my opinion. Of course I don't think she belts but she can carry a tune.

[Fantod]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 10:35pm

You know, I think we already have a perfect Norma, and her name was Gloria Swanson, and she was in a near-perfect film version of Sunset Boulevard...

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 10:36pm

Bestie, In my skewed vision, I thought Gloria Swanson had a pretty old look. Much older than all the actresses you named.

 

And to me, it made sense in the film that she was a has-been. But I think I have the  minority opinion on this.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 10:53pm

Besty, I think Kate Winslet, who is about 40, is actually too young for the role. It'd be exciting to see someone like Zeta-Jones, Kidman, and Blanchett. I disagree that none of them would do it, I think Kidman and Blanchett are absolutely fearless actresses. I think Kidman in particular would do it if the funding was in place and a great auteur (her friend Baz Luhrman or someone like Todd Haynes) asked her to be in it. But I know what you mean, it does take guts, as you say, to do a role that so heavily relies on the idea that the actress is a "has been," especially when so many of these actresses already have a hard enough time landing roles without being known for playing something that hits so close to home. Yet another reason why the movie wouldn't happen.

While I wouldn't mind Close taking a crack at it as I said above, you are right about Swanson. In fact, when I rewatch the movie, something that always surprises me is how young she looks. In my mind I always remember her as looking "old," yet she doesn't look old at all in the film. Her body is rocking and her face does not seem aged. Indeed, that adds to the tragedy of her situation and makes it an even more incisive commentary of ageism in Hollywood.

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

Posted: 1/4/16 at 11:38pm

Jessica Lange would make a fantastic Norma, her singing would be fine and she certainly bring out Norma's delusions...

[Peter2]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 12:16am

Streep?

[SweetLips]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 1:12am

Kidman and Hugh and Baz.

[pmensky]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 3:51am

Norma should be 50, not only because the fact that she's considered washed up in Hollywood at only 50 is sad, and the story is an indictment of Hollywood's mistreatment of aging, female actors, but because of math.  The musical takes place in the 1950's, and time-wise, Norma would have been an ingenue during the height of the silent film era in the 1920's.  If they were to hire Close, Streep, or Lange, they'd have to set the movie in the late 1960's, early 1970's to make sense.  To cast Streep, Close, or Lange, set the film in the 1950's, and expect the audience to believe they were an ingenue of 19 years old just 30 years earlier would be a stretch, no matter how good they look.  Yes, of course they could, but it would be a bit of a stretch.  I love the idea of Nicole Kidman directed by Baz.  His style would suit this film brilliantly.  

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 5:44am

best12bars said: "Glenn is too old. Part of the sadness and/or shock of Norma's plight as a "has-been" is that she isn't all that old. She's 50, not 70 or 90. Just 50. Gloria Swanson looked great for her age. But that' wasn't good enough. She was her age. And "dead" as far as playing the young leading lady ever again.

I agree and disagree. The thing is in 1950, Norma as a fifty year old would be seen, for a variety of reasons, as past her prime. Things may not be much better for actresses now but they are a bit and I think you could easily justify that to register to modern audiences she could easily be bumped up 20 years even if not correct to the period--the same way actresses playing the leads in Follies or playing Blanche are not routinely cast with actresses a decade older than intended. 

 There is also the legit argument that as lifetimes get longer people genuinely age differently physically and so again a fifty year old actor in 1950 will not register the same way as now. It would be a cheat for the audience and not historically correct but. 

 

Updated On: 1/5/16 at 05:44 AM

[SweetLips]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 7:39am

The only reason the general public MIGHT go to see this musical would be to see the  STAR.This is not Les Mis that the whole world knows.It is a niche market that would dry up very quickly without the curiosity of a recording[world wide] star to put bums on seats.

Sweeny Todd possibly made money after the theatre lovers had been but kept going because of Depp. This has similar appeal so without a Cher/Madonna/Lady G/Pink this would be a curiosity piece loved and argued about forever.

Love reading everyones' thoughts on aging thru the Hollywood ages but means diddly to the GP fronting up to buy a ticket.

 

SL....x

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 8:20am

The material is far too rarefied for a big (expensive) screen adaptation, the story itself has no real cultural touchstones in 2015.  If it were set in, say, the rock world, it might. Might.  But Meryl's "Ricky and the Flash" or whatever it was unmemorably called, conjured that concept and nobody cared. Box office dud.  I cannot see Close, at 70, making a persuasive case for the character, and I liked her on stage almost 20 years ago.  And we'd have a movie set in the 50s about the silent era. The Cohens have a wonderful film coming out this winter, the trailer one of the best, that captures much of that feel. Is there room for another?  Blanchett couldn't get people in the seats for "Truth," (2.5 million b.o.) and we don't yet know the b.o. fate of "Carol" (and I loved both movies, and both performances).  People who like female-driven stories are over 50, even over 60, boomers, and though they go to the movies, they still can't 'open' a big film.  Everyone wants another "Marigold Hotel."  I doubt it's "Sunset...", with any star. I'd love to be wrong about all of this. 

Updated On: 1/5/16 at 08:20 AM

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 10:02am

No, no, you misunderstood. She'd be playing Max, Albert Knobbs-style. She still can't let that character go.

[jonahke]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 10:59am

By the time this movie will be made, Sierra Boggess will have the right age to play Norma

[SweetLips]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 2:39pm

Let's throw Audra into the pot to creat some REAL interest.

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 3:01pm

Let's hold off on a film until Megan Hilty is old enough to play Norma. Or, hell, let's revive it when Hilty is nearing her fifties! She'll be a Tony winning legend by then, anyway.

[binau]

Posted: 1/5/16 at 3:48pm

I also just reminded myself that one big issue is much of the material is far too weak to make an interesting film adaptation.