Late last year we reported that Scarlett Johnasson was out and Michelle Williams was in on a proposed picture of Marilyn Monroe called,” “My Week With Marilyn.”
And yes, this is true. It’s a Weinstein-led film that hopes to shoot this September (presumably after Williams shoots, “Take This Waltz” with director/writer Sarah Polley this summer). Of course the problem is, as we noted this morning, Australian director Andrew Dominik is mounting his own Marilyn Monroe film called, “Blonde,” starring fellow Aussie Naomi Watts.
Anyone who reads our site often knows that we rather adore Williams, but the director of “The Assassination of Jesse James” and “Chopper” vs. the director of British TV movie fare like “David Copperfield” and “My Summer with Des” (Simon Curtis)?
Sorry, no contest. But the Weinstein film will actually go in front of cameras first as Dominik’s iteration won’t shoot until January 2011. “My Week With Marilyn” is based on the diary of Sir Laurence Olivier’s employee Colin Clark. In 1957, the now-departed thespian looked after Monroe when she arrived in London to shoot the film “The Prince And The Showgirl” with Olivier himself. In 1958, Clark published excerpts of his diary but left out his week with Monroe. In 2002, those entries finally saw the light of day and are now the basis for the film.
Ralph Fiennes was circling the part of Olivier, but is now out (he decided to direct “Coriolanus” instead). Dueling Hollywood film projects on the same subject racing to get to the big screen first? Unheard of.
