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Glenn Close's West End debut in Sunset Boulevard could become a rehearsal for the big screen.

Writer Christopher Hampton has revealed plans to make a movie version of the musical, which opens at the Coliseum in April.

Fatal Attraction star Close, 68, will play faded Hollywood actress Norma Desmond — a role that won her a Tony award when she performed it on Broadway more than 20 years ago.

The show, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Hampton and Don Black, is inspired by the 1950 Billy Wilder film about a delusional former silent movie star desperate for a comeback.

Hampton said it was a “big deal” to be bringing Sunset Boulevard to the theatre, run by the ENO.

He added: “In fact we are looking down the line to make a movie of it later. When we first did Sunset Boulevard it was somehow still too close to the original. Now you have to ask yourself and find a director who would ask ‘What is there about this story that was made so perfectly in 1950 that justified me doing it again?’ ”

Wilder’s film included the famous lines “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small” and “All right, Mr DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up”.

Hampton said he hoped to see Close recreate the role on film, adding: “It is not my decision but as far as I’m concerned that is what I’m thinking. We’ve just had a series of talks with Paramount so everything is in place and hopefully we can get it done while Glenn is in London.”

Of her West End role, Close said: “When I was approached to do this I thought it was actually a gift. To be able to come back to the same character 20 years later. It is going to be another exploration for me because I’ve had 20 years of life, I’ve had 20 years of my craft.

“She won’t be the same and I’m not sure of what she will be like. She’s been in my psyche, when you play a great character like that she becomes part of the fabric of your being. She haunted me after I left her.”

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