The British author's satirical The Loved One was published in 1948, after Waugh had spent time in Hollywood observing the film industry and, of all things, the funeral industry. IT WAS PARTLY INSPIRED BY AN EVELYN WAUGH NOVEL. Clift's biographers say it was because he had a strong following among older women, who wrote him letters describing how they'd like to mother him, and he didn't want to encourage such behavior. Some speculated it was because he was dating an older woman at the time (actress Libby Holman, 16 years his senior) and didn't want people to think the movie was a parody of that relationship. The much sought after but highly finicky leading man accepted the role, then backed out. MONTGOMERY CLIFT WAS THE FIRST CHOICE FOR JOE GILLIS. It's probably just as well, since the darker, more nuanced story that eventually emerged was quite different from West's wheelhouse anyway. But she wanted to rewrite her dialogue (as was her custom)-a nonstarter for Wilder, who seldom let his actors change their lines even slightly from what was on the page. Initially, writer-director Wilder envisioned the movie as a straightforward comedy, and the famously saucy West seemed like a perfect fit. MAE WEST WAS BILLY WILDER'S FIRST CHOICE TO STAR. Here's some backstage information to enhance your experience the next time you visit the Paramount lot. But trophies or not, Sunset Boulevard has stayed near the top of the list of great movies about moviemaking. It came out the same year as another behind-the-scenes showbiz classic, All About Eve, which took most of the Oscars. (Norma Desmond would be quick to point out that, thanks to computers and iPads, the pictures have gotten even smaller.) If anything, its observations on the greedy machinations of Tinseltown are truer now than they were in 1950. Sunset Boulevard, one of Hollywood's most cruelly accurate depictions of itself, is now 65 years old-older, even, than its main character, who's washed up at 50.
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