Sunset Boulevard: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Sunset_Boulevard_Poster.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''Audiences don’t know somebody sits down and writes a picture . . . they think the actors make it up as they go along.''}}

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{{quote|''[[Signature Line|All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.]]''}}

[[Billy Wilder]]'s classic [[Film Noir]] from 1950, ''Sunset Boulevard'' is a dark take on the film industry and the fleeting nature of fame, to this day one of Hollywood's most scorching (and yet wistful) [[Horrible Hollywood|depictions of itself]], and indeed one of the greatest films of all time. (In 1998, the [[American Film Institute]] ranked it as the twelfth best American film of the twentieth century.) While the characters are deeply flawed, some of them [[Moral Event Horizon|beyond any redemption]], the film still presents them each as complex, sympathetic, and even endearing.

[[Billy Wilder]]'s classic [[Film Noir]] from 1950, ''Sunset Boulevard'' is a dark take on the film industry and the fleeting nature of fame, to this day one of Hollywood's most scorching (and yet wistful) [[Horrible Hollywood|depictions of itself]], and indeed one of the greatest films of all time. (In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it as the twelfth best American film of the twentieth century.) While the characters are deeply flawed, some of them [[Moral Event Horizon|beyond any redemption]], the film still presents them each as complex, sympathetic, and even endearing.

In 1993, it was adapted into [[The Musical|a musical]] by [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]. The Broadway premiere starred [[Glenn Close]], and The 1996 Australian premiere in Melbourne showcased a relative unknown named [[Hugh Jackman]], who played Joe Gillis opposite Debra Byrne as Norma Desmond, who, at the time, was ironically Australia's own [[White Dwarf Starlet]]. It won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Musical, in a year in which [[Damned By Faint Praise|only one other show was even nominated]].

In 1993, it was [[Sunset Boulevard (musical)|adapted]] into [[The Musical|a musical]] by [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]. The Broadway premiere starred [[Glenn Close]], and The 1996 Australian premiere in Melbourne showcased a relative unknown named [[Hugh Jackman]], who played Joe Gillis opposite Debra Byrne as Norma Desmond, who, at the time, was ironically Australia's own [[White Dwarf Starlet]]. It won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Musical, in a year in which [[Damned By Faint Praise|only one other show was even nominated]].

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'''Norma''': ''What you're trying to say is that you don't want me to love you. Is that it?!''

''(She slaps him and runs upstairs.)''

Then, later that evening, {{spoiler|she slits her wrists with his razor in a halfhearted suicide attempt}}.}}

** Then, later that evening, {{spoiler|she slits her wrists with his razor in a halfhearted suicide attempt}}.}}

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'''The musical also contains examples of:'''

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The musical, while staying extremely true to the film, gives more insight into Norma's character, making her a much more tragic and sympathetic well rounded figure, bordering almost on a [[Broken Bird]].

* [[All Musicals Are Adaptations]]: Yep. The plot of the musical is basically identical to the movie, with possibly a few more details tossed in.

* [[Dark Reprise]]: At the end, after finally getting her audience, her cameras and the attention she so desperately craved, Norma belts out a powerful reprise of "With One Look," only the extremely dark and creepy orchestrations remind us what is really going on; {{spoiler|she just killed a man, went insane and is being taken away by the police as the newsreel cameras record her final descent and humiliation.}}

* [[Final Love Duet]]: Subverted, as it occurs right ''before'' the finale and its [[Twist Ending]] (which, of course, [[It Was His Sled|the male lead does not survive]]).

* [[Grief Song]]: "Surrender".

* [["I Am" Song]]: "With One Look".

* [["I Want" Song]]: "As If We Never Said Goodbye".

* [[Mythology Gag]]: During Artie's New Year's Party, one of the girls present sings about her desire to work with [[Billy Wilder]], who of course directed and co-wrote the original film.

* [[Race Lift]]: In the original Canadian production, Norma was played by [[wikipedia:Diahann Carroll|Diahann Carroll]], who is African American.

** Some regional productions have cast a black actor as Joe Gillis.

* [[Shout-Out]]: [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] based Norma's "mad scene" on a similar scene at the end of Donizetti's opera ''Lucia di Lammermoor''.

* [[Title Drop]]: "Sunset Boulevard," the Act 2 opener.