Sunset Boulevard, Starring Glenn Close, Inches Closer to the Big Screen

A film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which recently concluded a Broadway return, is in the works, with the Tony-winning star in tow.

Sunset Boulevard is making a return to the screen. As previously speculated, Paramount Pictures is developing a film adaptation of the musical, with Tony winner Glenn Close set to reprise her performance from the stage.

According to The Wrap, Close, who won a Tony Award in 1995 for her performance as Norma Desmond and recently returned to the role in the 2017 revival, is in advanced talks to board the project.

Read: WILL GLENN CLOSE STAR IN SUNSET BOULEVARD FILM?

The prospective project was first reported in January 2016, prior to Close taking on the faded Hollywood star once more at the London Coliseum before a Broadway bow at the Palace Theatre. At the time, co-lyricist and book writer Christopher Hampton said, “We’ve just had a series of talks with Paramount, so everything is in place.” Hampton had initially hoped shooting would begin while Close was still in London.

The project is eyeing a January 2018 production start date; no word yet on a director or additional casting.

Sunset Boulevard, featuring a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and a book and lyrics by Hampton and Don Black, ended its latest run at the Palace Theatre in June. It had been over 20 years since Close opened the original Broadway production, but the Oscar nominee used the years away from Norma Desmond to find a new window into the character.

Read: TWENTY YEARS LATER, GLENN CLOSE FINDS A NEW NORMA

“I'm not saying I'm getting better, but I am saying that I do have more experience,” Close told Playbill as she discussed returning to the role first seen in the 1950 Billy Wilder film. “With more knowledge of myself and experiences I’ve had and heartbreaks I’ve had and enduring as I have—theoretically, an actor should only get better because our bodies and our minds and hearts are the material with which we build characters.”



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