Daily Dialogue — July 6, 2018

Joe Gillis: I’m not an executive, just a writer.
Norma Desmond: You are, are you? Writing words, words, more words! Well, you’ll make a rope of words and strangle this business! With a microphone there to catch the last gurgles, and Technicolor to photograph the red, swollen tongues!

— Sunset Blvd. (1950), written by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder & D.M. Marshman Jr.

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Billy Wilder.

Trivia: Other actresses considered for Norma Desmond were Mae West (who wanted to rewrite the dialogue), Mae Murray, and Mary Pickford. In fact, Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett even went to Pickfair to pitch the story to Pickford, but her horrified reaction as the story progressed made them stop halfway through and apologize to her.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This scene in which Joe meets Norma for the first time has some sensational dialogue and Gloria Swanson chews them up in a wonderful performance.