Marilyn Monroe Is Making Her Presence Known!

Marilyn Monroe

Jessica Chastain, one of my "girls", is gearing up to portray my ultimate girl, Marilyn Monroe, in a biopic sometime next year, 2015.  Based on the novel "Blonde" by Joyce Carol Oates a fictional take on the concepts and life of Marilyn.  Brad Pitt himself and his Plan B production company will produce the feature.

Andrew Dominik who directed Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Killing Them Softly will helm the picture from his own script.  His passion and his enthusiasm are supposedly all over his demeanor when mention of this project derives.  "My heart belongs to Marilyn" he stated to IndieWire in 2012, "It's a really sprawling, emotional nightmare, fairy-tale type movie, and I really want to do it real bad."

This is just shortly before Lifetime announced their 4 hour mini-series Marilyn, to air sometime in 2015.  Kelli Garner, most known for her work in The Aviator, Lars and the Real Girl, and the TV series "Pan Am" (with another one of my girls, Margot Robbie), is taking on the honor of the blonde bombshell.  With screen legend Susan Sarandon to portray Marilyn's mentally ill mother, Gladys.  Marilyn is based on J. Randy Taraborrelli's book "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe" who penned a book that was made into a mini-series for Reelz, "After Camelot".

Kelli Garner

I'm halfway through Taraborrelli's Marilyn and I'm so excited!  I'm even more excited to see one of my girls take on the honor for the big screen!  I was never a fan of Michelle Williams' rendition, though that was more of a casting/producing reason and not an acting one.  I'm happy she was recognized for her efforts and all her hard work.  However, I believe Chastain has a better shot at capturing the true spirit of the character, though Garner resembles the character the most which goes oh so much further in believeability.  Albeit, the talent at this point, is primarily Chastain as we the public have become so familiar with her as of recent.  Yet this is the perfect time for a newcomer like Garner to shine with a project like this mini-series to turn a couple of key heads in her direction.

I have to start reading, and catching up on my Marilyn!  This my 4th time reading her biography and it always fascinates me.  I'm eager to read Oates' fictional take on her life and capturing her spirit.  Hopefully my biopic of her that I'm writing does the same!

PHOTO CAPTION:  Jessica Chastain, The Help, 2011.

Source:  The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap