More SUNSET Film Rumors - Glenn Close To Play Norma Now?- Page 3

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 11:11am

Yes because she'd just LOVE to be memorialized on film in this.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 11:14am

I was trying to make a joke about weight gain, following besty's post.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 11:50am

I think Elaine looks pretty fabulous in FOLLIES and if she can look as good as she does in that form fitting costume, I think she'd look more than ok in those Norma Desmond mumus.

I actually tend to agree with Jordan on this. I saw all the Broadway Normas, and while its true that none could quite compete with Close in terms of pure star power, Paige was in a lot of ways the overall most satisfying. She sang the role the best and was incredibly good in the book scenes.

If this is just a straight to television/video of the original staging, of all the original NormasI think Paige at this point would, be the one that would best be able to still deliver all the goods.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 12:17pm

Plus she still has huge selling power (maybe not in the US, but overseas) and I'd love to get rid of my bootleg video of her and have a real HD quality one.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 2:20pm

Maybe I've just seen some unfavorable photos of her lately. I Googled around and realize that may well be the case. All in all, she looks fine for it.

And based on this clip alone (assuming she can still do it), she'd be best for the part, IMO.

I kinda love her petiteness for Norma, too. None of those big silent film stars were much over 5 feet tall, including Swanson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAH_bneLlPE

Updated On: 12/11/11 at 02:20 PM

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 4:19pm

As this is for cinema then DVD (ala Upcoming LND) and filmed version of the stage show as opposed to an actual movie I can see a name for Norma and theatre people in other roles. I don't mind Glenn close as she acts it so well, I love the idea of Catherine zeta jones And maybe Vanessa Williams. There is a recording of pfiffer as evita and as much as I love her as an actress she could not sing the role. Streep I think gets too much praise for her mamma Mia singing, I don't think she could handle sunset.

It would not surprise me to see alw cast someone like Ramin Karimloo as joe, he is the lords current golden boy, is age and lool appropriate and anyone who has heard him sing the score knows he can sing the s'"@t out of it

[philly03]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:10pm

I'd also love to see Paige in the role in the film/filmed staging whatever. She was thrilling both vocally and acting.

I'd love to see Maria Friedman play the role as well.. She has sung "As If We Never Said Goodbye" a few times, I think it was one of her albums as well. (She's also the right age - right around 50)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:11pm

Celine Dion would also be amazing.

[Jimbob2]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:15pm

This casting would never happen, but... Helen Schneider seems to me a genius in this role. She has a face that is believable as that of a silent movie star, a wonderful voice, and her acting is fantastic. She manages to be real, without camping it up, and yet is quite extreme at the same time. Powerful and pitiful in equal measure.

This German press call video gives a good idea of what the DVD could look like. Some of the pulling focus to Max's reactions is really good. The casting of Joe is great too.

The Perfect Year, perfectly acted by all three Updated On: 12/11/11 at 05:15 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:17pm

In 10 years, Rachel Crowe would be amazing as Norma.
Updated On: 12/11/11 at 05:17 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:22pm

Or Russell Crowe.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:31pm

How about Russell Crowe as Javert as Norma Desmond?

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:33pm

I think Elaine Paige is an excellent idea. She looks younger than she is. She is curvy, but not overweight. She looks great, actually.

If it does come down to Madonna vs. Close, I'll take Madonna any day.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 5:42pm

I'd love to see Jan Maxwell do this part one day.

[random person 112]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 7:53pm

Yes, and while maxwell is a wonderful vocalist with magnificent talent, if she sang the score as written it would become shrieking boulevard.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 8:15pm

How dare you, Sir or Madam.

HOW. DARE. YOU.

[random person 112]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 8:19pm

I'm being honest maxwell is a superd actress and a fine singer, but lets be honest she's never taken on an incredibly demanding singing role. Phyllis is not very hard in the singing department, anna in the king and i isn't either neither was her chitty role, the closet was when she was a city of angels replacement. In a straight play version she'd be devine but maxwell would lose her voice after a week of shows, it's not going to work out well for anyone.

[Broadwayhunk]

Posted: 12/11/11 at 11:53pm

I don't think Norma would have to be an actual 50 years old. 50 today is not like 50 was back in the 50's (that's a lot of fifties). It's a shame though that they're not doing a full on movie version. It was always Swanson's dream to do a musical version. I wonder if the script still exists?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:06am

I don't understand why it's so important that Norma be fifty. Granted, it's a popular line from the film, if I remember correctly, but just the fact that she's seen as being "older" or "aging" is good enough for me. Norma's actual age is irrelevant to me as is the actual age of the actress portraying her.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 12:22am

I personally feel her age is important because there is a fairly easily traced timeline to her life. For instance Max says "when we met she was a child, barely sixteen." The current day events are taking place in 1950. She was at the peak of her fame in the 20s, which means Max probably didn't find her and make her a star until around 1916. And of course her young age at the time he became "the first husband" just helps to highlight his obsession with her. The older the actress is the further and further back in time it would have to be for Max to have met her at the age of sixteen until it becomes a fact that he would have made her a "star" before there were actual movie stars.

[danny10086]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 5:40am

I just hope they use the original set and costume design - they are spectacular!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 8:23am

There are a lot of reasons why its actually fairly important that Norma be 50 and not a decade or more older- most of the reasons have been pointed out here - the character's obsession with youth in relation to the film business is a pointed statement on the nature of the youth obsessed industry and isn't supposed to be one of complete absurdity. Equally important: the character's age in relationship to the timeline of the history of films (Norma and the creation of motion pictures 'grew up together'), and also in terms of her relationship with Joe, who is supposed to have been just a boy around the time Norma's career began to falter, but is in her eyes still believable as a love interest (i.e. a 20 year age difference, not 30).

But, the main point is that Norma is supposed to be a tragic character that the audience sympathizes with. The older she is, the more camp, the more absurd, the more ridiculous her desires to find romance, make a comeback and be young and beautiful are, and the less the audience really feels emotionally invested in her plight.

Updated On: 12/12/11 at 08:23 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 9:54am

I have the dissenting opinion regarding the age thing. I think the older Norma appears, the better. For me, it's more tragic when a clearly "too old" person wants and thinks they could possibly recapture their youth.

If a woman is just past her prime in the youthful department, it isn't such a tragedy that she wants to look a little younger.. That's how I see it.

Edited to say that in the film, Norma looked "much too old" to me and that's why I found it tragic and effective.

Updated On: 12/12/11 at 09:54 AM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 10:00am

But the tragedy is that she isn't an old woman; its that she is 'too old' for the youth obsessed world she lives in. As Joe says, "there is nothing wrong with being 50, unless you're acting 20" -- this is very much the same situation with a play like SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, in which the central character isn't an old woman; she's just no longer an ingenue and that is what the movie industry wants.

Nicole Kidman who was cast in SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH is the right age for that play, and would by the same token by the right age for SUNSET BOULEVARD. Norma is in her late 40s/very early 50s.
Updated On: 12/12/11 at 10:00 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/12/11 at 10:25am

"its that she is 'too old' for the youth obsessed world she lives in."

Yes, I completely understand the storyline. I just think that the older the woman is, the more tragic it is that she could even think she could pull this off. If she's a little too old, well, maybe it's possible, but when the woman is totally clueless, well, I find that much sadder.