Film & TV NewsSunset Boulevard, Starring Glenn Close, Inches Closer to the Big ScreenA film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which recently concluded a Broadway return, is in the works, with the Tony-winning star in tow.
By
Ryan McPhee
August 17, 2017
Glenn Close
Richard Hubert Smith
Sunset Boulevard is making a return to the screen. As previously speculated, Paramount Pictures is developing a film adaptation of the musical, with Tony winner Glenn Close set to reprise her performance from the stage.
Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard (Broadway, 2017)
Joan Marcus
According to The Wrap, Close, who won a Tony Award in 1995 for her performance as Norma Desmond and recently returned to the role in the 2017 revival, is in advanced talks to board the project.
The prospective project was first reported in January 2016, prior to Close taking on the faded Hollywood star once more at the London Coliseum before a Broadway bow at the Palace Theatre. At the time, co-lyricist and book writer Christopher Hampton said, “We’ve just had a series of talks with Paramount, so everything is in place.” Hampton had initially hoped shooting would begin while Close was still in London.
The project is eyeing a January 2018 production start date; no word yet on a director or additional casting.
Sunset Boulevard, featuring a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and a book and lyrics by Hampton and Don Black, ended its latest run at the Palace Theatre in June. It had been over 20 years since Close opened the original Broadway production, but the Oscar nominee used the years away from Norma Desmond to find a new window into the character.
“I'm not saying I'm getting better, but I am saying that I do have more experience,” Close told Playbill as she discussed returning to the role first seen in the 1950 Billy Wilder film. “With more knowledge of myself and experiences I’ve had and heartbreaks I’ve had and enduring as I have—theoretically, an actor should only get better because our bodies and our minds and hearts are the material with which we build characters.”
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Sunset Boulevard Takes Its Final Broadway Bow
Sunset Boulevard Takes Its Final Broadway Bow
Tony winner Glenn Close returned to the role of Norma Desmond over 20 years since starring in the original Broadway production.
24 PHOTOS
Cast
Stephanie Martignetti
Jim Walton, Paul Schoeffler, Preston Truman Boyd, and Andy Taylor
Filmed in 2023, the one-night-only event featured Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Peter Friedman, and more from the Ahrens and Flaherty musical's original cast.
