Sunset Boulevard/Trivia


 * Actor Allusion: Glenn Close portrays a lonely troubled woman slowly driven to insanity due to her unhealthy obsession with a man, eventually she's pushed over the edge and goes on a murderous rampage... But enough about Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction.
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: People often misquote this movie's famous line as "I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille."
 * Executive Meddling: Probably for the better. The original cut of the film involved Joe's corpse talking to other corpses in the morgue, which made test audiences laugh uproariously.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Betty's fiance is Joe Friday.
 * Alongside all the silent movies stars "as themselves", Joe's friend Artie is played by Jack Webb, who had just begun to hit it big on the Police Procedural Dragnet. It's so weird to see that guy smile.
 * Reality Subtext: Norma is played by Gloria Swanson, who was a silent film star, and worked with Cecil B. DeMille. Max is played by Erich von Stroheim, who was a silent film director.
 * The movie that Norma and Joe watch together was comprised of footage of from Troubled Production Queen Kelly (1929) - directed by none other than Erich von Stroheim.
 * And Cecil B Demille referred to Swanson as "young fella" when both were getting started in Hollywood.
 * The Waxworks, of course, were real former Hollywood stars then considered has-beens, including Buster Keaton.
 * Those Two Actors: After the success of the film, this was attempted with William Holden and Nancy Olson; they appeared in three further films together, but none of them was really successful.
 * Typecasting: Filmmakers just rehashed Norma whenever they wanted to give Gloria a part in a film after that, and some people still confused Swanson with Desmond.
 * What Could Have Been: Several other old-time stars were considered for the role of Norma Desmond including Pola Negri, Mary Pickford, and even Mae West. Montgomery Clift was originally cast as Joe Gillis, but pulled out - reputedly because he himself was dating a much older (and arguably washed up) singer at the time.
 * Stephen Sondheim began work on a musical version, before the release of Andrew Lloyd Webber's play. He abandoned the project due to Billy Wilder saying that he'd prefer a Sunset Boulevard opera to a musical.