My Week with Marilyn is a 2011 biographical drama film directed by Simon Curtis and written by Adrian Hodges. It stars Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, and Judi Dench. Based on two books by Colin Clark, it depicts the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl, which starred Marilyn Monroe (Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Branagh). The film concerns the week during the shooting of the film when Monroe was escorted around London by Clark (Redmayne), after her husband Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott) had returned to the United States.
Principal photography began on 4 October 2010, at Pinewood Studios. Filming took place at Saltwood Castle, White Waltham Airfield, and on locations in and around London. Curtis also used the same studio in which Monroe had shot The Prince and the Showgirl in 1956. My Week with Marilyn had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on 9 October 2011, and was shown at the Mill Valley Film Festival two days later. The film was released on 23 November 2011, in the United States by The Weinstein Company, and on 25 November in the United Kingdom by Entertainment Film Distributors.
The film received generally positive reviews and grossed $35 million worldwide. Williams and Branagh were nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively.
Plot
Following his graduation from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1956, aspiring filmmaker Colin Clark travels to London to gain a job on Laurence Olivier's next production. Production manager Hugh Perceval tells Colin that there are no jobs available, but he decides to wait for Olivier, whom he once met at a party. Olivier and his wife, Vivien Leigh, eventually arrive and Vivien encourages Olivier to give Colin a job on his upcoming film The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Marilyn Monroe. Colin's first task is to find a suitable residence for Marilyn and her husband, Arthur Miller, the leading playwright, while they are in England. The press discover the house, but Colin reveals he secured a second house just in case, impressing Olivier and Marilyn's publicist, Arthur P. Jacobs.
The paparazzi find out about Marilyn's arrival at Heathrow and they gather around the aircraft when it lands. Marilyn brings Arthur, her business partner, Milton H. Greene, and her acting coach, Paula Strasberg, with her. Marilyn is initially uncomfortable around the many photographers but relaxes at the press conference. Olivier becomes frustrated when Marilyn is late for a read-through. She insists Paula sit with her, and when she has trouble with her lines, Paula reads them for her. The crew and the other actors, including Sybil Thorndike, are in awe of Marilyn. Colin meets Lucy, a wardrobe assistant to whom he is attracted, and they go on a date. Marilyn starts arriving later to the set and often forgets her lines, angering Olivier. However, Sybil praises Marilyn and defends her when Olivier tries to get her to apologise for delaying the shoot.
Marilyn struggles to understand her character and leaves the set when Olivier insults her. Colin asks Olivier to be more sympathetic towards Marilyn before he goes to Parkside House to check on her. He hears an argument and finds a tearful Marilyn sitting on the stairs with Arthur's notebook, which contains the plot of a new play in which Arthur seems to mock her. Arthur later returns to the United States. Vivien comes to the set and watches some of Marilyn's scenes, then argues with her husband. She breaks down, saying that Marilyn lights up the screen and that she wishes Olivier could see himself when he watches her. Olivier tries unsuccessfully to reassure his wife. Marilyn does not show up to the set following Arthur's departure and she asks Colin to come to Parkside, where they have a talk. The crew becomes captivated by Marilyn when she dances for a scene, during which Milton pulls Colin aside to tell him that Marilyn breaks hearts and that she will break his too. Lucy also notices Colin's growing infatuation with Marilyn and breaks up with him.
Colin and Marilyn spend the day together and are given a tour of the library of Windsor Castle by Owen Morshead. Colin also shows Marilyn around Eton College, and they go skinny dipping in the River Thames. Marilyn kisses Colin and they are found by Roger Smith, Marilyn's bodyguard. Colin is called to Parkside one night as Marilyn has locked herself in her room, having taken several sleeping pills. Colin enters her room and Marilyn invites him to lie next to her on the bed. The following night, Marilyn wakes up in pain and claims she is having a miscarriage. A doctor tends to her. Marilyn tells Colin that Arthur is coming back and that she wants to try being a good wife to him, so she and Colin should forget everything that happened between them. She later returns to the set to complete the film. Olivier praises Marilyn but reveals she has killed his desire to direct again. Lucy asks Colin if Marilyn broke his heart and he replies that she did "a little", to which she replies that he needed it. Marilyn comes to a local pub, where Colin is staying, and thanks him for helping her. She kisses him goodbye and Roger drives her to the airport.
Cast
Production
Development
My Week with Marilyn is based on Colin Clark's The Prince, The Showgirl, and Me (1995) and My Week with Marilyn (2000); two diary accounts, which document his time on the set of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl and the time he spent with Monroe. After reading the two books in 2004, Simon Curtis approached producer David Parfitt about making a film based upon them. Parfitt said everyone liked the idea, but because Monroe is so familiar and iconic to people, they wondered what was left to say. Adrian Hodges, who wrote the screenplay, told David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph: "If you'd said to me one day I'd write a film about her, I'd have been amazed, because I wouldn't have known where to start." Gritten reported the saving grace for Hodges was that Clark's books were written about Monroe at a specific time.
Curtis and Parfitt pitched the project to BBC Films and the UK Film Council and they put up the money for development. They then had to wait for eighteen months while Parfitt negotiated the rights to the books with Clark's estate. The producer and director had to wait a further six months for Hodges's screenplay. Once it was ready, a search for finance and a cast began. Curtis went to Harvey Weinstein and told him about his idea for making a film based on Clark's books. Weinstein told Michael Hogan of The Huffington Post that he had read the books for fun, but had not then considered them for adaptation into a film. He read Hodges's script, which he described as "quite good", charming and fun. Weinstein chose to finance My Week with Marilyn as he was keen to work with Michelle Williams again, following Blue Valentine. The film is produced by Trademark Films and is also financed by LipSync Productions. My Week with Marilyn marked Curtis's feature film debut.
Casting
Michelle Williams was the only actress that producers met with during the casting process and Curtis said she was the only actress he had sought for the role. She committed to My Week with Marilyn two years before production began. Williams told Adam Green of Vogue that the notion of portraying Monroe was daunting, but as she finished reading the script, she knew she wanted the role. She then spent six months reading biographies, diaries, letters, poems, and notes about and from Monroe. She also looked at photographs, watched her films, and listened to recordings. Williams had to gain weight for the role, and she worked with a choreographer to help perfect Monroe's walking.
In September, it was announced that Eddie Redmayne had been cast as Clark. Parfitt commented that finding an actor for the role had been difficult. He said "It's a devilishly tricky part to find the right person for because Colin went to Eton, studied at Oxford and flew for the RAF." That same month, it was also announced that Emma Watson had been cast in the small role of wardrobe assistant, Lucy. Watson was scheduled to spend only a few days on set shooting her scenes to prevent her studies at Brown University from being interrupted. Kenneth Branagh began talks with producers for the role of Laurence Olivier in July 2010 after Ralph Fiennes had to drop out to direct his adaptation of Coriolanus. Branagh was later cast in the role.
Dominic Cooper was given the role of Milton H. Greene, a photographer and Monroe's business partner. Of Greene, Cooper said, "He was quite an old man, but they had a very close relationship. I think Marilyn felt very supported by him in the beginning. But ultimately he became her agent and business partner, which is rather a lot." Cooper filmed his scenes in between his work on Captain America: The First Avenger. Catherine Zeta-Jones was offered the role of actress Vivien Leigh. But Zeta-Jones turned down the role as she did not want to spend more than a week away from her husband Michael Douglas, who was being treated for throat cancer at the time. Curtis and the producers began auditioning other actresses and they ultimately cast Julia Ormond in the role. Ormond's casting was announced at the same time as Dougray Scott's, who portrays Arthur Miller. Derek Jacobi was cast as Sir Owen Morshead, the royal librarian at Windsor Castle, Philip Jackson plays Monroe's private detective and Judi Dench plays Sybil Thorndike. Zoë Wanamaker is Paula Strasberg, Monroe's acting consultant and Richard Clifford was cast as Richard Wattis. The film's cast also includes Toby Jones, Geraldine Somerville, Simon Russell Beale and Michael Kitchen. It was announced on 8 October 2010, that casting for the film had been completed.
Filming Principal photography on My Week with Marilyn commenced on 19 September 2010. Dench filmed her scenes during that month as she had to go to India to start working on The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Filming took place at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire from 4 October 2010. Three days later, White Waltham Airfield was turned into a 1950s London Heathrow Airport to recreate the moment when Monroe arrived in England to begin production on The Prince and the Showgirl. Curtis used the studio in which Monroe shot The Prince and the Showgirl in 1956 to film scenes for My Week with Marilyn. Williams was given the same dressing room Monroe had used at the time of her shoot. Filming also took place on locations in and around London. One such location included Parkside House in the village of Englefield Green, where Monroe and Miller lived during their stay in Britain. The film's production designer, Donal Woods, toured the house with Curtis prior to filming and noticed the exterior looked much as it did when Monroe posed for some publicity shots there fifty years ago.