Ready for My Closeup Audiobook By David M. Lubin cover art

Ready for My Closeup

The Making of Sunset Boulevard and the Dark Side of the Hollywood Dream

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Ready for My Closeup

By: David M. Lubin
Narrated by: Jason Culp
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For fans 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 fire as a leading man, hired to play Joe Gillis after the fastest‑rising star in the business dropped out at the last minute? After Mae West and Mary Pickford turned down the now iconic role of Norma Desmond, how did Billy Wilder convince Gloria Swanson, who had long been absent from Hollywood at this point, to leave her low‑paying job as a TV talk show host to join the cast? From the writers' room during Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett’s final collaboration to the moment when the film won three Academy Awards, scholar and former Rolling Stone staffer David M. Lubin takes listeners on a fascinating journey through film history that proves, once and for all, why Sunset Boulevard is one of the most iconic films in cinematic history.

Just in time for the film's 75th anniversary, Ready for My Closeup breathes life into a beloved masterpiece of American cinema.

©2025 David M. Lubin (P)2025 Grand Central Publishing
Entertainment & Celebrities Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV History & Criticism

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Critic reviews

"Sunset Boulevard belongs in the Hollywood pantheon, alongside such classics as Chinatown and The Wizard of Oz, both of which have deservedly received their own “biographies.” Now David Lubin gives Sunset its due with this fast-paced journey through the making of the movie, sprinkling his well-researched tale with rich nuggets about the Golden Age. Anyone who admires Billy Wilder, adores William Holden and is mesmerized by Gloria Swanson will hunger for more."—Stephen Galloway, New York Times bestselling author of Truly, Madly

"David Lubin’s deep dive into Hollywood’s darkest take on Hollywood seamlessly analyzes process, motive and meaning, as well as the confluence of talents that brought this bleak, beloved tale to life and, eventually, immortality."—Scott Eyman, New York Times bestselling author of John Wayne: The Life and Legend

"Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard is one of the most majestic and original works of Hollywood’s golden era, and David M. Lubin's entertaining book casts a wide net in capturing and exploring all of the elements of the film's brilliant artistry, from great writing and acting to set design and cinematography for a movie that is both a scathing critique and a requiem for the studio system, its grandeur and its cruelties."—Glenn Frankel, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Shooting Midnight Cowboy

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