Chatting on iTV's "This Morning" with guest hosts Gloria Hunniford and co-host Michael Ball (who's currently starring in Webber's The Woman in White filling in for Michael Crawford as Count Fosco), and discussing movie musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber was asked about filming Sunset Boulevard. His response? "There is a plan to do that."
When the obvious question of casting came up, Webber avoided answering, but when
Glenn Close's name was mentioned by Gloria Hunniford, he did say "I don't know how you could top Glenn, she was fantastic."
This confirms recent comments made by Webber to the Phillipine's INQ7.net on February 6th, while promoting the
Phantom of the Opera film in which Webber said "Paramount owns the fundamental rights to "Sunset Boulevard" because it was originally a Billy Wilder movie. I spoke to Sherry (Lansing, Paramount head) this morning and it's very clear that they are interested."
In interviews earlier this month with
Glenn Close, she confirms that she has spoken to
Andrew Lloyd Webber about bringing the show to the big screen and says that she "very much wants the gig."
There are ongoing rumors regarding casting in the film, ranging from
Liz Smith who reported in 2004 that
Liza Minnelli was being sought after as Norma Desmond, with
Hugh Jackman as Joe Gillis, to a December article in the UK Daily Mail which claimed that Anthony Hopkins and
Hugh Jackman were close to signing while the composer continued to pursue
Glenn Close.
No active timetable for the movie's filming, casting or release appears to have been set at this time.
