Sunset Boulevard: The Musical: The Movie

[Sotiris]

Tony-winning choreographer Rob Ashford is attached to direct Paramount’s big-screen take of Broadway’s musical adaptation of the screen classic Sunset Boulevard, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Ashford won a Tony for best choreography for 2002’s Thoroughly Modern Millie and earned nominations for the musicals The Wedding Singer, Curtains, Cry-Baby, Promises, Promises and Evita. He also earned best director and best choreography nominations for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which starred Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette.

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is among the producers of the project, adapted from the 1950 black-and-white classic that starred Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded and deluded silent-screen star who ensnares a down-on-his-luck screenwriter into her fantasy of making a comeback.

Glenn Close, the seven-time Oscar nominee, will star in the production, reprising the role she played to great acclaim on Broadway twice before. Close is playing Desmond, a role she portrayed when the musical hit Broadway in 1994, winning her third Tony Award; she reprised the part to great acclaim in a 2016 revival that played both London and New York. The musical features a score by Lloyd Webber, with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. The original production won seven Tonys in all, including best musical, book and original score.

A fall start is being eyed. Close had been loosely attached to the project since last year, but pieces were not coalescing until a director was found.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... or-1191627

[Disney's Divinity]

Hopefully she'll get her Oscar for this one, surely.

[Sotiris]

Q: What’s atop your to-do list once this is all over?

Glenn Close: By the end of the year, I really would love to work on the movie based on Sunset Boulevard the musical. That's always on my mind and I think we're getting closer...

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... se-1288088

[UmbrellaFish]

I’d like to see her finally film it, but I’ll believe it when it happens. I just don’t know who the audience for this is beyond “people who want to see Glenn Close win an Oscar” and I’m doubtful that’s encouragement enough to greenlight a new ALW adaptation. If a big studio won’t fund a proper movie adaptation, I could see ALW just restaging the recent revival and filming that.

Maybe Close will win the big award for “Hillbilly Elegy.”

[TheSequelOfDisney]

I’d like to see her finally film it, but I’ll believe it when it happens. I just don’t know who the audience for this is beyond “people who want to see Glenn Close win an Oscar” and I’m doubtful that’s encouragement enough to greenlight a new ALW adaptation. If a big studio won’t fund a proper movie adaptation, I could see ALW just restaging the recent revival and filming that.

Maybe Close will win the big award for “Hillbilly Elegy.”

I mean, if we got Cats surely there's a good shot for Sunset Blvd. (though probably of a lesser chance now since Cats bombed at the box office). I mean, who was Cats' audience?

Still, I wouldn't mind seeing an adaptation of this. Though I've always preferred Patti LuPone or Elaine Paige to Close, but I'm not making the movie so...

[UmbrellaFish]

Cats had incredible longevity on both sides of the Atlantic. Sunset Boulevard did not. In terms of money-making potential, history was on Cats’ side. That’s not the case with Sunset. And after Cats bombed, I just don’t understand why any movie exec should be digging through ALW’s repertoire— although admittedly they are two very different shows and Sunset Boulevard would naturally be easier to adapt.

I agree, personally I much prefer to listen to LuPone’s recording.

[estefan]

I think Sunset Boulevard has a bigger chance of being greenlit than, say, Starlight Express. Paramount owns the film rights (as they produced the original film), so it's probably up to them whether it moves forward.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Cats had incredible longevity on both sides of the Atlantic. Sunset Boulevard did not. In terms of money-making potential, history was on Cats’ side. That’s not the case with Sunset. And after Cats bombed, I just don’t understand why any movie exec should be digging through ALW’s repertoire— although admittedly they are two very different shows and Sunset Boulevard would naturally be easier to adapt.

I agree, personally I much prefer to listen to LuPone’s recording.

True, but Cats' original run has been off the scene for, what, 15 or 20 years? In this day and age, that doesn't quite make it a hot commodity anymore. Sunset Blvd. is arguably the last great ALW musical anyway, besides School of Rock (though I admittedly haven't listened to that yet). I feel like we'd sooner see a film of that than Sunset Blvd. You're right, though--Sunset Blvd. should theoretically be quite easy to adapt, since there's the original film to go off from as well. Though, look what they did with Phantom and Cats, hahaha.

In a weird way, I'm still kind of happy we got Cats (the fun trainwreck that it is). I watched it again a few days ago and it's still relatively fun. I just wish that they hadn't changed the majority of the songs to be sung by the characters themselves. It not only changes the dynamic of the piece, but we also lose a lot of great musical moments (from duets/trios to solos; it just loses something). I fully believe that Tom Hooper should steer clear of musicals for a while, though. The "gritty realism" he wants might've (mostly) worked for Les Misérables, but that was just a full-stop dumb idea for Cats.

[Disney's Divinity]

Still, I wouldn't mind seeing an adaptation of this. Though I've always preferred Patti LuPone or Elaine Paige to Close, but I'm not making the movie so...

Likely so, but like with other live-action musicals (including Disney's remakes), they always pick big film stars first. I think Close will do a great acting job and autotune will have to do the rest.

[Musical Master]

Why Rob Ashford though? Wouldn't make more sense to hire Rob Marshall to direct this? Or better yet, why not Damien Chazelle who did a really amazing job with both Whiplash and La La Land? This kind of story is right up there in their wheel-house.

[DisneyFan97]

Rob Marshall is the best muiscal director working today !!!!