Countdown for Norma Desmond Casting in SUNSET BOULEVARD

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/...0,2043342.story

I put this here out of superstition in hopes that Ms. Streisand can pull this coup off. As far back as July, 2005, from things I just Googled, there was talk that Glenn Close had already edged Barbra out. Now Meryl Streep is in the running. But I want Barbra to get it, because she's lived an eccentric enough life to be able to embody Norma quite well (those 4 houses now comprising part of the Barbra Streisand Conservancy in Malibu that she lived in in the Jon Peters years sound strange enough..), and she alone could really do something with those songs, having recorded a couple.

Anybody else in our Musical Comedy Department have any fingers to cross on this one?

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http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=1071368

However, this is almost the movie itself, without making it. Even if she could get through scenes, she's been away from acting too long, would just camp it up. This Liz talk may just be talk.

[glebb]

Oh God!

I'm afraid this is one that should not be made!

Babs has the vocal chops but I'm not sure she is a good enough actress.

She can obviously be fabulous in the right role and I adore her in Funny Girl, On a Clear Day and Hello Dolly. But can she really pull off the role of one of the silent screens greatest beauties?

I saw Glenn on Broadway and she did cause me to rise to my feet but I'm not sure she has the voice for the screen.

The notion of Liz is ridiculous to me. She not only can't sing a note but she in my opinion no longer even resembles a great beauty.

Meryl is a Goddess in my book but does she have the voice for this?

I know the original film was intended for Mae West but what a stroke of luck to have gotten the great(est) Gloria Swanson.

I really adore the non musical version of the story and would like to see it (same as The Wizard of Oz) left alone!

PS - I saw Petula Clark in London and she was quite horrid.

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Thanks, glebb--I woud be fine with their not making this, but I would have also been fine with not ever making almost any Lloyd Webber show, whether on stage or film. I hated 'Evita', the movie and 'Phantom' from 2004 is just putrescent.

Since they're going to, I'd still like to see Streisand do some big old-fashioned singing once more (at least), because she still can, and in that appalling 'Meet the Fockers' proves that she doesn't mind really getting vulgar and grubby if necessary. I wouldn't care if she didn't pull off some of the part, because this show is never going to replace the great Swanson/Von Stroheim original in any way--so I guess I'm just looking for something enjoyable. The show is of no other interest to me, although I might see it if Streep does get it. She sings pretty well and might make something of it, in her 'there goes Meryl's technique again' way. No fan of Glenn Close, and think she can't sing, period--ran Lupone out of B'way role, as is well known. I doubt Liz Taylor is in shape to do any kind of big part, so don't you think that was just a little feature and bit of publicity?

At least they're not considering Helena Bonham Carter.

[glebb]

"At least they're not considering Helena Bonham Carter". - LOL, not yet!

Glenn, whose voice was uneven in the role was actually very, very charismatic in the theatre and that is a quality of Norma's. But I do agree about the voice for the big screen.

LuPone has the vocal ability in spades but she is just not right for Norma. I don't like her recording.

As much as "Evita" was a disaster, it was quite stylish and I loved the tongue in cheek moment of the film's actual director obviously in great pain directing 'Peron's Latest Flame'. I saw it in the theatre nine times.

I guess they need to get Marion Cottilard.

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Glenn, whose voice was uneven in the role was actually very, very charismatic in the theatre and that is a quality of Norma's. But I do agree about the voice for the big screen.

I think I'm beginning to see the light! Glenn Close IS Norma Desmond! Totally delusional, in terms of not having quite as much talent as she thinks she has, doing Nellie Forbush on television 25 years too old and also not being able to sing a lick with actual real songs...plus making the audience in 'Meeting Venus' hear her do Wagner before TeKanawa dubbed her so it would be more authentic--eh bien, of course it was authentic: The audience was wide-eyed, in a state of Central Nervous System Shock...and yet somehow loathe to applaud...I think she is fully capable of embodying the Full Odium of Norma Desmond, since she always thinks to herself 'I AM big. It's Meryl who got small...'

Come on, I want a big fat mess of vaudeville trashing. Gimme Babs any day, she got da Chops!

[glebb]

LOL - Oh Glenn/Nellie, that was the worst.

OK -- Let's hear it for Babs! Cut! Print!

[perky]

I'd vote for Betty Buckley. Yeah I know, she's not a big name like Close or La Streisand so it's not gonna happen.

[glebb]

Buckley (The crew hated her!) and Dianne Carroll both have wonderful recordings.

[dirac]

Babs has the vocal chops but I'm not sure she is a good enough actress.

Glebb, must disagree with you here, respectfully. Streisand is a very good actress when she wants to be, which I concede hasn’t been recently. She can certainly play the part. True, she’s no ex-beauty, but neither has anyone else who’s been up for the role except Faye Dunaway (and Streep, in her way).

I assume the Liz Taylor thing is a grim joke. Here’s what Liz Smith has to say:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/...,0,407334.story

I spoke with a top movie producer the other day, and he dismissed the latest round of interest in the movie. "Oh, please. Forget the musical. It's not going to happen. The musicals that have had some success recently, like Hairspray and Dreamgirls, are geared toward a younger audience. Nobody in 2007 can relate to the story of a silent screen star - they can't even relate to the idea of a black-and-white movie! What worked on stage will come off as camp onscreen. Especially if Barbra does it.

"I say update the Billy Wilder original. Make Norma a washed-up star from the disco era. Cast Halle Berry and Jake Gyllenhaal."

I dunno about Berry and Gyllenhaal, but I think the anonymous producer is right and there is little chance that the stage version as performed will come to the screen.

There may be something to the retro 70s idea, though. How about Jake and Stevie Nicks?

I think I'm beginning to see the light! Glenn Close IS Norma Desmond! Totally delusional, in terms of not having quite as much talent as she thinks she has, doing Nellie Forbush on television 25 years too old and also not being able to sing a lick with actual real songs...plus making the audience in 'Meeting Venus' hear her do Wagner before TeKanawa dubbed her so it would be more authentic--eh bien, of course it was authentic: The audience was wide-eyed, in a state of Central Nervous System Shock...and yet somehow loathe to applaud...

Now, that’s just mean.

I think she is fully capable of embodying the Full Odium of Norma Desmond, since she always thinks to herself 'I AM big. It's Meryl who got small...'

Once in awhile Close gets together with Sigourney Weaver and they drink beer and throw darts at Meryl’s picture.

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I spoke with a top movie producer the other day, and he dismissed the latest round of interest in the movie. "Oh, please. Forget the musical. It's not going to happen. The musicals that have had some success recently, like Hairspray and Dreamgirls, are geared toward a younger audience. Nobody in 2007 can relate to the story of a silent screen star - they can't even relate to the idea of a black-and-white movie! What worked on stage will come off as camp onscreen. Especially if Barbra does it.

"I say update the Billy Wilder original. Make Norma a washed-up star from the disco era. Cast Halle Berry and Jake Gyllenhaal."

I dunno about Berry and Gyllenhaal, but I think the anonymous producer is right and there is little chance that the stage version as performed will come to the screen.

There may be something to the retro 70s idea, though. How about Jake and Stevie Nicks?.

But when you include the upcoming 'Nine' in the crop, his reasoning may not be so apparent: I think 'Nine', though to me light-years better than 'Sunset Boulevard' (the Lloyd Webber version), is going to be far less accessible to younger audiences than Norma Close/Streisand/Streep. I mean--what do they know of any of the announced casting possibilities except Penelope Cruz and Zeta-Jones? Love the quote from Ms. Smith, though. I wish we could know if it's an exact quote, because the 'Oh please. Forget the musical. It's not going to happen' is hilarious, and sounds slightly inebriated as quoted, since he doesn't seem to literally mean that 'it's not going to happen' in some form or other. I can't say I personally find the disco era thing very appealing, and Halle Berry doesn't make sense, but Jake Gyllenhaal is truly a wonderful idea if they go on and do the basic show as is. I knew 90s kids who went to the B'way show and went on and on and 'how wonderful' it was. I mean, face it, Lloyd Webber shows are all easy, kids have all seen them who have come as tourists with their parents, so that the only reason I think he might have a point is that 'Sunset Boulevard' didn't run as long as expected, and not nearly as long as 'Cats' and 'Phantom'. When you're talking about names as big as these ladies, all of whom would surely enjoy doing it, it doesn't sound as though it would be shelved in its current form. But we'll see, hopefully soon, as it's not worth this much fuss!

[sidwich]

I know the original film was intended for Mae West but what a stroke of luck to have gotten the great(est) Gloria Swanson.

Well, the original had a bit of a tortured history, culminating in the end of the Wilder-Brackett writing partnership (Brackett envisioned the story as a screwball comedy, and Wilder saw it as... well, what it became). I had only ever heard that it was offered to Mary Pickford, who was quite a recluse by then and said to have been carrying one with a much-younger lover. She turned it down. Most felt it hit a bit too close to home.

I always get a bit dizzy at the scene when Norma is watching the clips of "Queen Kelly." Never released, the film starred Swanson and sunk von Stroheim's actual directing career.

Totally delusional, in terms of not having quite as much talent as she thinks she has, doing Nellie Forbush on television 25 years too old and also not being able to sing a lick with actual real songs

Close may not be the best vocalist, but she's perfectly competent. I saw her in "Barnum" many years before she became a motion picture star, and she did fine with the Coleman/Stewart score.

Personally, I don't think "Sunset Boulevard" really works as a musical. As Wilder himself said, it's really meant to be an opera.

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I always get a bit dizzy at the scene when Norma is watching the clips of "Queen Kelly." Never released, the film starred Swanson and sunk von Stroheim's actual directing career.

But you can see it on video, I remember watching it about 10 years ago and remember little of it now. Just checked: yes, vhs and dvd, 97 minutes worth.

Close may not be the best vocalist, but she's perfectly competent. I saw her in "Barnum" many years before she became a motion picture star, and she did fine with the Coleman/Stewart score.

She's all right, and I thought she was excellent in 'Reversal of Fortune'. I agree that an opera sounds right, and someone should maybe still try to do it. I'd rather see Babs, but the acting may be more important if anything is to be salvaged or made truly worthwhile here.

[sidwich]

But you can see it on video, I remember watching it about 10 years ago and remember little of it now. Just checked: yes, vhs and dvd, 97 minutes worth.

'

von Stroheim never completed "Queen Kelly," although I think some of his footage was eventually cut together with footage shot by other directors (which may be what's available now). Swanson had von Stroheim kicked off the film because shooting was taking so long. I think von Stroheim had shot about 4 hours worth at that point and was nowhere near completion. (von Stroheim turned in "Greed" at about 9 hours).

[dirac]

But you can see it on video, I remember watching it about 10 years ago and remember little of it now. Just checked: yes, vhs and dvd, 97 minutes worth.

'

von Stroheim never completed "Queen Kelly," although I think some of his footage was eventually cut together with footage shot by other directors (which may be what's available now). Swanson had von Stroheim kicked off the film because shooting was taking so long. I think von Stroheim had shot about 4 hours worth at that point and was nowhere near completion. (von Stroheim turned in "Greed" at about 9 hours).

I saw ‘Queen Kelly’ on TV some time ago in a reconstruction that was done with the intent of keeping as close as possible to Stroheim, and it included still photographs where footage wasn’t available – don’t know if that’s the same version as on the video. It may have included some of the footage shot later, but I don't know.

Stroheim was fired at Swanson’s behest by none other than Joseph P. Kennedy, who was the producer of the picture and having an affair with Swanson at the time. I remember reading somewhere that although they shared financial responsibility for the picture, the contract was drafted in such a way that Swanson got stuck with any losses.

I believe ‘Queen Kelly’ was released abroad in the early thirties.

I can't say I personally find the disco era thing very appealing, and Halle Berry doesn't make sense, but Jake Gyllenhaal is truly a wonderful idea if they go on and do the basic show as is.

Jake G. would be perfect.