SUNSET BOULEVARD Movie Continues to Search for a Director

Sunset Boulevard fans are going to have to wait a little bit longer for the film version, according to Glenn Close. Though the actress is keen on reprising her Tony-winning role of Norma Desmond in the movie, the production continues to remain in limbo. 

"We do have what I think is a brilliant script," she said on a recent appearance to Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, adding "We're looking for a director." In an update in 2024, she told Variety that the movie is "in the works and I’m not giving up on that one." 

The long-awaited film has been in development for years, with Close and Andrew Lloyd Webber shopping it to several film studios. Close originally stated that the film would go into production with Paramount in the summer of 2021. However, Webber revealed that Paramount ended up passing on it.

With the current Broadway production, the musical has found a new audience in recent years, and Close believes the character of Norma continues to remain relevant. "That character is like Hamlet [and] is one of the greatest characters ever written for a woman," she explained to Cohen. "I've done it on stage now twice and I want to do it on film."

Based on Billy Wilder's classic Academy Award-winning film, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard features a book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.

Before it premiered on Broadway, the show was first performed in London's West End at the Adelphi Theatre in 1993 starring Patti LuPone, where it ran for almost four years and played to nearly two million people. The American premiere was at the Shubert Theatre in Century City, Los Angeles in December 1993 with Glenn Close as Norma. The musical was an instant success and played 369 performances before moving to Broadway in 1994 with, what was then, the biggest advance in Broadway history, at $37.5 million.

Jamie Lloyd’s new Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Blvd. starring Olivier Award winner and Grammy Award nominee Nicole Scherzinger as ‘Norma Desmond' opened on Sunday, October 20 at the St. James Theatre on Broadway. 

Photo Credit: Bruce Glikas