On Sunset Boulevard cover

On Sunset Boulevard

by Ed Sikov

Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment - Billy Wilder's cinematic legacy - is unparalleled in Hollywood history. Not only did he direct these landmark films and twenty-one others over the course of forty years in Tinseltown, he wrote all of his own screenplays. Volatile, cynical, hilarious, and supremely driven to create, Wilder arrived in Hollywood an all-but-penniless refugee who spoke no English; ten years later he was calling his own shots and directing his own scripts, and he stayed on top of the game for the next three decades. On Sunset Boulevard is the story of his rich, funny, inexhaustible, and exhilarating life.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?