According to Sunset Blvd.: From Movie to Musical by George Perry, Hal Prince owned the stage musical rights to the film in the mid-1970s, and talked to Andrew Lloyd Webber about doing the project with Hugh Wheeler writing the book. At that time, Prince was toying with the idea of resetting the story in the then present and making the lead character a Doris Day-like singer and actress, but could not interest Lloyd Webber in the project.