10 Cut Scenes That Would Have Totally Changed Their Movies
3. Sunset Boulevard - Talking To The Dead
Directed and co-written by Billy Wilder (who won an Oscar for his efforts), Sunset Boulevard is without a doubt one of the most influential examples of film noir ever put to screen.
Beginning with the now iconic scene of screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) narrating the aftermath of his own death as his body floats in a pool, this cynical study of Hollywood stardom follows the writer as he becomes entwined in the delusions of aged movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). The result is an all-time movie classic that needs to be experienced by every film fan.
Believe it or not, the original opening presented a far different tone. Laughed at by test audiences, the alternative scene showed a living Gillis in a morgue talking to corpses about how they died. Disheartened by the reactions, Wilder re-shot the opening to a cost of around $150,000, a price studio Paramount were happy to pay for the far more superior introduction.
Wilder's original scene would have set the film up as a screwball comedy, and that's just not what Sunset Boulevard is.
Unfortunately, all that remains of this scene are snippets of the script and a handful of surviving shots. Maybe it's for the best.