This month marks the seventy fifth anniversary of “Sundown Boulevard,” Billy Wilder‘s darkly hilarious, brutally trustworthy, and in the end surprisingly poignant poison-pen letter to the Hollywood movie business the place he made his success. To mark the event, Paramount has meticulously restored the movie for a brand new 4K launch that premiered at Cannes this 12 months and is now accessible by way of streaming and bodily media.
That “Sundown Boulevard” and its story of the doomed relationship between struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) and pale silent movie queen Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) has endured for 75 years isn’t a surprise to Nancy Olson, who starred within the film as Gillis’ love curiosity and conscience Betty Schaefer. She was Oscar-nominated for her efficiency for Greatest Supporting Actress.
“We knew we have been at one other stage of filmmaking,” Olson, 97, advised IndieWire. “There was one thing being requested of us that was not extraordinary, and also you needed to stay as much as it.” Olson, who was 22 when “Sundown Boulevard” opened in 1950, famous that Wilder’s movie had significantly extra inventive advantage than her solely earlier characteristic, the Randolph Scott car “Canadian Pacific.”
“I used to be below contract to Paramount,” Olson stated. “I used to be a theater arts scholar at UCLA, and so they had seen me in a play and signed me. Someday, the studio known as and stated, ‘We’re going to lend you to twentieth Century Fox to do a film known as “Canadian Pacific.” It’s in coloration, and you’re partly Indian.’ And I stated, ‘Wait a minute. I’m a Scandinavian from Wisconsin.’ They stated, ‘You’ll have your hair dyed very darkish and also you’ll be tremendous.’”
The film might not have stood the take a look at of time like “Sundown Boulevard,” however it made Olson comfy with the digicam earlier than she stepped onto Wilder’s set. “I realized that working with the digicam is an entire different operation than theater,” she stated. “The digicam tells half the story, and by the point I did ‘Sundown,’ I at the very least had a way of the best way to use that.”
After being signed by Paramount, Olson loved wandering the lot and trying out the units, not in contrast to her aspiring screenwriter character in “Sundown Boulevard,” who roams the backlot at evening with Gillis. On her walks, she would usually encounter Wilder, who was contemplating her for “Sundown Boulevard” with out her even being conscious of it.
“ He was so serious about speaking to me, and I by no means understood it,” Olson stated. “He would ask, ‘What’s it wish to develop up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and be a health care provider’s daughter? What’s it wish to be a scholar at UCLA? What’s your life like now?’ And he would go on and on with query after query.” As soon as Olson was solid as Betty Schaefer, she realized that Wilder had been ensuring she was articulate in a approach that he thought would serve the character.
“He wished me to be Betty Schaefer,” Olson stated, insisting that Olson put on her personal garments — although she barely had any acceptable outfits to talk of. “I didn’t have a fantastic wardrobe! I used to be too busy going to highschool, going to Paramount. I didn’t know the place to buy both, however in some way we put some stuff collectively. That’s how a lot he wished me to be merely me.”
Though “Sundown Boulevard” has the sensation of a piece that’s been finely tuned in each second, Olson says Wilder didn’t come throughout as a perfectionist on set — on the contrary, he usually rattled her and different actors along with his refusal to shoot a number of takes. “I’ve talked with Shirley MacLaine about this numerous occasions,” Olson stated. “The one factor [Wilder] did that drove me loopy is he would solely do one take.”
Olson was shocked to understand this whereas capturing her first scene with Holden and actor Fred Clark. “I began to stutter within the center, and I assumed absolutely he’s going to name minimize, and we’re going to start out this once more,” Olson stated. “I stored going and we completed the scene and he stated, ‘Lower, print.’ I stated, ‘Billy, please let me do it once more,’ and he stated, ‘Print, subsequent setup.’ And that was what he did in each single shot. However you lastly obtained used to it.”
“Sundown Boulevard” is accessible now to purchase or hire on 4K Extremely HD from Paramount Photos. The 4K UHD bodily media version might be launched on August 6.