As I skim the warmed-over tributes to Marilyn Monroe on the dubious occasion of her being dead for 50 years, a variation of one headline keeps coming up: "50 Years Dead and More Alive Than Ever." Rather than post some smart-ass comment about lazy headline writers, I thought I'd work with that idea: If Marilyn was still alive, what would have been some great movie vehicles for her? Below, in no particular order, my Movieline Nine wish list, which mostly ignores what Monroe's actual would have been when these movies would have been made. This is hypothetical after all, and, besides, if you, type "Marilyn Monroe" and "ageless" into Google, you get more than 3.8 million hits. Okay, Marilyn fans, you've been served. Now, in the words of J.J. Hunsecker: "Match me." Put your wish lists in the comments section below. more »
Also in Monday afternoon's round up of news. Tribeca Institute names its recipients for its $150K Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, Liza Burnett Fefferman and Heath Shapiro take up exec positions at RADiUS-TWC, Wally Pfister to spearhead Kodak chats at Los Angeles Film Festival, Universal COO begins his road to retirement and Sony eyes Tonka toys.
more »
I'm not sure if Uma Thurman's character Rebecca Duvall on NBC's Smash is supposed to be all that convincing as Marilyn Monroe -- the subject of the Broadway show-within-the-TV show, in case you've been living under a rock -- but a sneak peek at next week's episode offers a snippet of Thurman's singing chops and, well... let's just say, it's good to know she'll only be around for a five-episode arc. Watch Thurman in a musical scene from her upcoming guest turn, decked out in a platinum blonde wig and singing about Freud, after the jump.
more »
Over at Awards Daily, Sasha Stone forwards an interesting theory: "There is a school of thought where Oscar is concerned that goes like this: You can win if you can give them rock hard erections." The latest in said awards trend, it would seem, is the February cover spread in GQ in which My Week with Marilyn's Michelle Williams poses in lingerie as the magazine's headline screams "Who Knew Michelle Williams Had This Body?" It's a far cry from Williams' perpetual pixie-mom persona, the one she broke out in her Golden Globe acceptance speech last weekend. But is her skin-baring the key to getting that coveted Oscar nomination/win?
more »
Bad news about Lindsay Lohan's Playboy cover: It's kinda cute! Sure, it's waterlogged with Photoshop tricks and the Marilyn Monroe thing's been done 145,000,090 times, but it's an undeniably successful photo. Unfortunately, it's also calls to mind a number of questionable images. Here are the first 10 things that Lindsay Lohan's Playboy debut reminded me of -- please add your own recollections after the jump.
more »
The world premiere of your first feature film -- in the hypercritical climes of the New York Film Festival, no less -- would be nerve-wracking for any director. But Simon Curtis isn't any director. He's a BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated television and stage veteran who's worked with a who's who of British acting royalty, a noteworthy group of whom appear in Curtis's feature debut My Week With Marilyn.
more »
"It's changed how I see the world and how I interact on a daily basis. It's changed the parent I am. It's changed the friend I am. It's changed the kind of work that I really want to do. It's become the lens through which I see life -- that it's all impermanent." On the eve of her turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, Michelle Williams opened up to Vogue even more about her career, family, and personal life. Including: "I'm not lonely, and I think that has a lot to do with what's on my bedside table rather than what's in my bed." [Vogue]
The new Dior short film/luxury ad starring celebrity spokesmodel Charlize Theron makes a number of assumptions off the bat. First and foremost, that you'd believe screen icons Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, and Marilyn Monroe would shill for any designer even in death, but more so? That Theron, statuesque living goddess that she is, is the natural glam heir to those ladies' legacy. Then again, it was filmed inside of Versailles. Point, Charlize!
more »
Stage and film vet Frank Langella has been in the business for nearly five decades, working with everyone from Arthur Miller to Laurence Olivier, and in his upcoming memoirs Dropped Names -- just acquired by Harper Collins -- the actor will regale readers with his experiences rubbing elbows with some of Hollywood's most iconic personalities. Fingers crossed he gets to talking about his Whoopi Goldberg years somewhere between his Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor chapters. [NYT]
