Sunset Boulevard (film)

:For the Broadway production see: Sunset Boulevard (musical).

Touches of authenticity

In dissecting Hollywood's "world of illusion" Wilder carefully placed the story within as authentic a setting as possible and made use of Hollywood history. Norma Desmond's name is believed to have been inspired by William Desmond Taylor who had been murdered in 1922 and his close associate and friend Mabel Normand whose career was ruined by scandals surrounding the murder. {{mn|Staggs|5}}

Related Topics:
William Desmond Taylor - 1922 - Mabel Normand

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Swanson was considered a fitting representative of Hollywood's past, remembered nostalgically by older fans but unknown by many younger movie viewers. Her personal collection of photographs decorated the set of Norma Desmond's home, causing Desmond's fictional past to resemble Swanson's authentic career. {{mn|Staggs|5}}

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The script refers to real films such as Gone with the Wind and real people such as Darryl F. Zanuck, D. W. Griffith, Tyrone Power, Alan Ladd, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Banky John Gilbert, Mabel Normand, Bebe Daniels, Marie Prevost, Betty Hutton and Barbara Stanwyck along with the Black Dahlia murder case. Norma Desmond declares admiration for Greta Garbo. {{mn|Script|1}}

Related Topics:
Gone with the Wind - Darryl F. Zanuck - D. W. Griffith - Tyrone Power - Alan Ladd - Rod La Rocque - Vilma Banky - John Gilbert - Mabel Normand - Bebe Daniels - Marie Prevost - Betty Hutton - Barbara Stanwyck - Black Dahlia - Greta Garbo

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Wilder extended his Hollywood references into some of his casting choices. Erich von Stroheim was a leading director of the silent era. In the role of Max he watches a film with Norma Desmond and the briefly shown scene is from Queen Kelly (1928), which von Stroheim himself directed with Swanson in the title role. Cecil B. De Mille (often credited as the person most responsible for making Swanson a star) plays himself and was filmed on the set of his current film Samson and Delilah at Paramount Studios. He calls Norma young fellow, the nickname he had called Swanson, a tiny detail of authenticity suggested by de Mille.

Related Topics:
Erich von Stroheim - Queen Kelly - Samson and Delilah

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Norma's friends who come to play bridge with her, though described only as "The Waxworks", are played by Swanson's contemporaries Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H. B. Warner. It is left for the viewer to decide if they are playing themselves. Hedda Hopper plays herself reporting on Norma Desmond's downfall in the film's final scenes. {{mn|Staggs|5}}

Related Topics:
Buster Keaton - Anna Q. Nilsson - H. B. Warner - Hedda Hopper

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In a comic scene Norma Desmond performs a pantomime for Joe Gillis as a Mack Sennett "Bathing Beauty", in homage to Swanson's earliest film roles. She also performs a Charles Chaplin impersonation identical to one she performed in the film Masquerade (1924).

Related Topics:
Pantomime - Mack Sennett - Charles Chaplin - Masquerade

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Wilder also made use of authentic locales. Joe Gillis's home in the Alto-Nido apartments was a real apartment block located near Paramount Studios and often populated by struggling writers. The scenes of Gillis and Betty Schaefer on Paramount's backlot were filmed on the actual backlot and the interior of Schwab's drugstore was carefully recreated for several scenes. The exterior scenes of the Desmond house were filmed near Sunset Boulevard around an old home built during the 1920s, which by 1949 was owned by the former wife of J. Paul Getty. {{mn|Staggs|5}}

Related Topics:
Drugstore - J. Paul Getty

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