Sunset Boulevard (film)

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

Writing

Wilder and Brackett began working on a script in 1948 but the result did not completely satisfy them. In August 1948 D.M. Marshman Jr., formerly a writer for Life Magazine, was hired to help develop the storyline after Wilder and Brackett were impressed by a critique he provided of their film The Emperor Waltz (1948).

Related Topics:
1948 - D.M. Marshman Jr. - Life Magazine - The Emperor Waltz

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In an effort to keep the full details of the story from Paramount Studios and avoid the restrictive censorship of the Breen Code they submitted the script on an almost page-by-page basis. The Breen Office insisted certain lines be rewritten, such as Gillis' "I'm up that creek and I need a job," which became "I'm over a barrel. I need a job." Paramount executives thought Wilder was adapting a story called A Can of Beans (which did not exist) and allowed him relative freedom to proceed as he saw fit. Only the first third of the script was written when filming began in early May 1949 and Wilder was unsure how the film would end. {{mn|Staggs|5}}

Related Topics:
Paramount Studios - Censorship - Breen Code - 1949

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The script contains many references to Hollywood and screenwriters, with Joe Gillis making most of the cynical comments. He sums up his film writing career with the remark, "The last one I wrote was about Okies in the dust bowl. You'd never know because when it reached the screen, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat." In another exchange Betty comments to Gillis, "I'd always heard that you had some talent." He replies, "That was last year. This year I'm trying to make a living." {{mn|Script|1}}

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Several of Swanson's lines such as, "All right Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up," and "I am big. It's the pictures that got small!" are widely remembered and quoted. Much of the film's wit is delivered through Norma Desmond's deadpan comments, which are often followed by sarcastic retorts from Gillis. Desmond appears to not hear some of these comments as she is absorbed by her own thoughts, and so some of Gillis' lines are heard only by the audience, with Wilder blurring the line between the events and Gillis' narration. Gillis' response to Desmond's cry that "the pictures got small" is a muttered reply, "I knew there was something wrong with them." Wilder often varies the structure, with Desmond taking Gillis' comments seriously and replying in kind. An example is when the two discuss the overwrought script Desmond has been working on. "They'll love it in Pomona," observes Gillis. "They'll love it everyplace," replies Desmond firmly. {{mn|Script|1}}

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In an essay about the screenplay, film writer Richard Corliss described Sunset Boulevard as "the definitive Hollywood horror movie," noting that almost everything in the script is "ghoulish." He remarked that the story is narrated by a dead man who Norma Desmond first mistakes for an undertaker, while most of the film takes place "in an old, dark house that only opens its doors to the living dead." He compared Von Stroheim's character Max with The Phantom of the Opera, and Norma Desmond with Dracula, noting that as she seduces Joe Gillis the camera tactfully withdraws with "the traditional directorial attitude taken towards Dracula's jugular seductions." He wrote that the narrative contains an excess of "cheap sarcasm" but ultimately congratulated the writers for attributing this dialogue to Joe Gillis, who as a result was presented as little more than a hack writer. {{mn|RichardCorliss|6}}

Related Topics:
The Phantom of the Opera - Dracula

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Wilder preferred to leave analysis of his screenplays and films to others. Asked if Sunset Boulevard was a black comedy he replied, "No, just a picture." {{mn|LondonReviewofBooks|7}}

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