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Sunset Boulevard Quotes

“I am big! It's the pictures that got small.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Fame, silent films, Obscurity
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Close-Up, Senile, cecil b. demille
“The whole place seemed to have been stricken with a kind of creeping paralysis—out of beat with the rest of the world, crumbling apart in slow motion.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: dlipidated, decrepit, faded glory
“[Joe is reading Norma's script] Sometimes it's interesting to see just how bad—bad writing can be. This promised to go the limit.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: faded glory, bad writing, Screenplay
“You don't yell at a sleepwalker—he may fall and break his neck. That's it: She was still sleepwalking along the giddy heights of a lost career.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Sleepwalking, faded glory
“Betty Schaefer: I've been hoping to run into you.

Joe Gillis: What for? To recover that knife you stuck in my back?”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Betrayal, Backstabber
“So they were turning after all, those cameras. Life, which can be strangely merciful, had taken pity on Norma Desmond. The dream she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Cameras, Dreams
“Betty Schaefer: Don't you sometimes hate yourself?

Joe Gillis: Constantly.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Self-hatred
“The poor dope—he always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: dead, Swimming Pool, Irony
“Well, this is where you came in, back at that pool again, the one I always wanted. It's dawn now and they must have photographed me a thousand times. Then they got a couple of pruning hooks from the garden and fished me out... ever so gently. Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: pool boy, dead
“Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture; they think the actors make it up as they go along.”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: screenwriters, audiences, actors
“There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Fame, movie star, faded glory, silent movies, talkies
“Joe Gillis: [Norma threatens suicide again] Oh, wake up, Norma, you'd be killing yourself to an empty house. The audience left twenty years ago. Now, face it.

Norma Desmond: That's a lie! They still want me!”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Fame, movie star, faded glory, suicide threat
“Norma Desmond: You heard him. I'm a star.

Joe Gillis: Norma, you're a woman of 50, now grow up. There's nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25.

Norma Desmond: The greatest star of them all.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Fame, movie star, faded glory
“Joe Gillis: I didn't know you were planning a comeback.

Norma Desmond: I hate that word. It's a return, a return to the millions of people who have never forgiven me for deserting the screen.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Fame, Comeback, Return
“And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after Salome we'll make another picture and another picture. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!... All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Fame, Delusion, cecil b. demille
“We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: silent movies, dialogue, faces
“Joe Gillis: Wait a minute, haven't I seen you before? I know your face.

Norma Desmond: Get out! Or, shall I call my servant?

Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.

Norma Desmond: I am big. It's the pictures that got small.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: Fame, silent movies
“This is New Year's Eve. How about living it up a little?”
— Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard
Tagged: New Year's Eve
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