VARIOUS: Michelle Williams stars as the glamourous and fragile Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn," premiering at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles
Record ID:
220637
VARIOUS: Michelle Williams stars as the glamourous and fragile Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn," premiering at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles
- Title: VARIOUS: Michelle Williams stars as the glamourous and fragile Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn," premiering at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles
- Date: 8th November 2011
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 06, 2011) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF GRAUMAN'S CHINESE THEATER IN HOLLYWOOD, FOR PREMIERE OF "MY WEEK WITH MARILYN" POSTERS FOR FILM VARIOUS OF ACTRESS MICHELLE WILLIAMS POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MICHELLE WILLIAMS, SAYING: "Well, I've never played anybody who 'was' before. Any character I've played, you know, the bar has been in my own imagination, I've been trying to live up to my own expectations, and with this, there was a duty of what came before, so that was new." WILLIAMS SPEAKING WITH REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS MICHELLE WILLIAMS, SAYING: "I read every book that I could cram in 8 months, I watched every movie, I stayed up on YouTube till 3 o'clock in the morning every night, trying searching out whatever sort of rare artifact might exist on the internet, so it was exhaustive." ACTOR DOMINIC COOPER AND DIRECTOR SIMON CURTIS SPEAKING TO REPORTERS DOMINIC COOPER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR DOMINIC COOPER, SAYING: "This snapshot of this particular moment in time, I think a big danger with biopics, not that this is one, really is that they try and get the person's entire life crammed into a film, and actually it's just wonderful to see a moment, you get much more of an understanding and an essence of how that person lived and the people they were surrounded with, I thought that was intriguing, and I knew so little about her, like many people do, I don't think... I think people are totally aware, you know, we're totally aware of this fantastic image of glamour and wonder, but what lay beneath, and I thought that's what I thought was wonderful." DIRECTOR SIMON CURTIS SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SIMON CURTIS, DIRECTOR, SAYING: "Well, I think she's the best actress of her generation, she's so skillful, so hardworking, so beautiful, I was desperate for her to do it, and thrilled that she took a chance on it." MICHELLE WILLIAMS ON RED CARPET
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAWBHWBFMGTLJ040Q6B4EETG4X
- Story Text: Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams premiered her latest film, "My Week With Marilyn," in which she plays troubled star Marilyn Monroe, at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles Sunday (November 06) Williams, along with co-star Dominic Cooper and director Simon Curtis, strolled the red carpet at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, where the iconic Monroe once pressed her hands and feet into cement. Williams says the role was a great chance to stretch her abilities as an actress, because she was playing a person who was not fictional.
"I've never played anybody who 'was' before," says Williams. "Any character I've played, you know, the bar has been in my own imagination, I've been trying to live up to my own expectations, and with this, there was a duty of what came before, so that was new."
She said that portraying a woman as famous as Monroe was an incredibly daunting task, but one that was made slightly easier by the vast selection of media concerning the troubled Hollywood legend, who died in 1962 at age 36, from a drug overdose.
"I read every book that I could cram in 8 months, I watched every movie, I stayed up on YouTube till 3 o'clock in the morning every night, trying searching out whatever sort of rare artifact might exist on the internet, so it was exhaustive," says Michelle Williams, on her research of star Marilyn Monroe.
British actor Dominic Cooper also stars in the film, which chronicles a week in the life of Monroe as she escapes her Hollywood routine and is introduced to the pleasures of 1950s Britain by an assistant on the set of "The Prince and the Showgirl". That film featured Monroe working opposite Sir Laurence Oliver and was shot when Monroe was on a honeymoon with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller. When he left England, Clark was assigned to introduce Monroe to British life.
Cooper says that portraying a week in Monroe's life afforded a better snapshot of her than a film that would encompass her entire life from start to finish.
"I think a big danger with biopics, not that this is one, really is that they try and get the person's entire life crammed into a film, and actually it's just wonderful to see a moment, you get much more of an understanding and an essence of how that person lived and the people they were surrounded with," says Cooper.
Director Simon Curtis said he only planned on Williams playing the role of the tragic star.
"Well, I think she's the best actress of her generation, she's so skillful, so hardworking, so beautiful, I was desperate for her to do it, and thrilled that she took a chance on it," says director Simon Curtis, of Michelle Williams.
The film will be be released in theaters on November 23. The AFI Film Festival will run in Hollywood until November 10. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None