The first photo of Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams (Shutter Island) as Marilyn Monroe from her new film, My Week with Marilyn, has been released. The Dawson’s Creek alum is a dead-ringer for the legendary sex symbol with platinum blonde curls, penciled brows, a strategically placed mole, and a full, luscious pout. Movie Buzzers recently reported on the three different Monroe movies in the works, and since then, a lot of juicy details have surfaced for this particular depiction. You can find more details along with a standalone picture of Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe after the jump.
My Week with Marilyn tells the story of the making of The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Monroe in her BAFTA-nominated performance and three-time Academy Award winner Sir Laurence Olivier. She retreated to Britain from the pressures of the Hollywood spotlight, with then-husband Arthur Miller at her side. The screenplay is written by British import, Adrian Hodges, based on the diary entries of an on set assistant during filming of the 1957 romantic comedy, Colin Clark, played by Tony winner Eddie Redmayne. Clark’s character is rumored to have had a fling with wardrobe assistant, Lucy, played by Emma Watson (of the Harry Potter films). Yahoo! reveals that Clark introduces Monroe “to the pleasures of 1950s Britain.”
With Simon Curtis to direct (Return to Cranford), the movie also stars four-time Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh (Valkyrie) as Olivier; Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Dougray Scott (Desperate Housewives) as Miller, Emmy winner Julia Ormond (Temple Grandin) as Olivier’s then-wife Vivien Leigh, Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Dominic Cooper (An Education) as producer Milton Greene, Academy Award winner Dame Judi Dench (Nine) as British screen veteran Dame Sybil Thorndike, and Emmy winner Sir Derek Jacobi (Endgame) as Sir Owen Morshead.
Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe
Just last week, Variety.com reported that Ormond took over the role of the iconic Gone with the Wind siren after Academy Award winner Catherine Zeta Jones (Chicago) dropped out because of her husband, Michael Douglas’ current battle against throat cancer. Also, this will be Watson’s first film role outside of the Harry Potter series, although she lent her voice to the animated Disney movie, The Tales of Despereaux.
Even forty years after her death, Monroe’s legacy is still in the news. Vanity Fair’s November issue focuses on the upcoming book called Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn Monroe. The book creates an intimate and rare look inside “Monroe’s anxieties, hopes, loves, and breaking points, ranging from a tender poem about her third husband, Arthur Miller, to raw expressions and isolation and shame.” Surely this will serve Williams, and Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts who stars in Blonde as Monroe in another highly anticipated adaptation, as material from which they can draw for their respective portrayals.
Set for a 2011 release, this film will surely premiere before the Joyce Carol Oates adaptation with Watts, who is currently on a press tour to promote her new movie, Fair Game. Williams can be seen next in Blue Valentine with Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson).
Recent Comments