I think either Sarah, Glenn, Barbra or Liza would be amazing.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
"I think either Sarah, Glenn, Barbra or Liza would be amazing."
Can Sarah Brightman's face still move? I feel like every time I've seen a video of her performing she has a near permanent wide-eyed-china-doll expression. It's hard to imagine a Norma Desmond who can't emote through her facial expressions, since that is what she was famous for.
Of course they could change it to 70, but it means that her career would have been on the decline at the end of the silent era, if not over already, as opposed to being tossed aside at the height of it.
Norma is a 50ish former silent screen star. Neither Liza nor Barbra have the looks, and both are too old. If her voice is up to the singing, I'd go with Michelle Pfeiffer.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
One thing no actress today has that Swanson did have - she was Norma Desmond. She was a Silent Screen Queen (she's even watching an unreleased film of hers at one point). Other gals can act that, but that extra, ephemeral added dimension will be missing.
And, of course, there's the fact that Sunset Boulevard, the musical, will always be no more than a pale imitation of Sunset Boulevard the movie. Black, Hampton, and Lloyd Webber did nothing to create a piece anywhere near equal to the source material. In particular, Black's doggerel verse lyrics are embarrassing when compared to Wilder's screenplay.
People have to look at Norma Desmond and think, "Has-been." I think that CZ-J is too young. Even if Norma Desmond is supposed to be in her late 40's or early 50's, people looked older then - they may really have aged faster. I like the idea of Meryl Streep or Glenn Close - didn't one of them play the role on stage? Sarah Brightman is probably too young, too. What about Madonna? I'll bet she could pull it off.
People did look older then than they do now, but Norma Desmond isn't a has-been because she's too old and grotesque to be acting; she's a has-been because she wasn't able to transition from silent films to movies with sound. Her acting style was old and dated, but she would've still been a young woman when her career ended, and therefore would not be ancient even twenty years later.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
My personal choice would be Michelle Pfeiffer - I think she would be an incredible Norma, looks-wise and vocally. And unfortunately, she can relate to Norma, being an amazing actress that isn't offered many lead roles now that she's of a 'certain age'
And, really, all these years after she sang a song about how to spell her name, do we still have to have these stupid, thoughtless, brain-dead misspellings of her last name.
Every actress mentioned in this thread is too old, other than CZJ, whose voice and persona are not really right for it. At the time the story takes place, an actress of 40 was considered over the hill. Swanson was 50 when she created the role. So let's think 40-50. It's tough. If it were easy to cast, it would already have been made.
My pick is Toni Collette. She's only 40, but they could age her, or by the time this actually gets made she would be the right age. And after watching United States of Tara, she would nail the craziness, poignancy, and weirdness. And I love her voice.