Ready for My Close-Up: The Making of Sunset Boulevard and the Dark Side of the Hollywood Dream

For readers of Sam Wasson and Glenn Frankel, a cultural history about the making and lasting significance of Sunset Boulevard, whose piercing—and in many ways, prophetic—critiques of fame continue to resonate today.

Great films are born of great collaborations, and Sunset Boulevard represents one of the most extraordinary confluences of cinematic talent in film history—but its production was surprisingly fraught, filled with unexpected twists. Why was William Holden, who had never caught fi...