Michelle Williams had her work cut out for her when she signed on to portray Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn. It isn’t easy playing a fantasy — just ask Marilyn herself. A reviewer for THR who saw a screening of the film at the New York Film Festival said, “Michelle Williams gives a layered performance that goes beyond impersonation. Playing both the damaged, insecure woman and the sensual celebrity construct, Williams gets us on intimate terms with one of Hollywood’s most enduring and tragic icons.”
The most heartbreaking thing about Marilyn’s life was the way she was used. She was never respected or treated with the authority she deserved. The industry, and almost all the men in her life, treated her like an object. She was paid less than other stars, degraded by the studio system and regarded as a joke. She was a serious actress with great talent and depth, which was never fully shown on film because she was type-cast as the fantasy that she dreamed, created and lived. The same fantasy that was ultimately her undoing. I’m sad every time I look at one of her pictures, because behind the Dom Pérignon-induced haze, her eyes reveal a woman tormented by a world of decadent loneliness.
My Week with Marilyn premieres Nov 4. Check out the trailer (below).
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