My Week With Marilyn 2011
- Director: Simon Curtis
- Based on books: by Colin Clark
- Cast: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Julia Ormand, Judi Dench, Emma Watson, Derek Jacobi, Geraldine Somerville, Michael Kitchen, Miranda Raison, Tobey Jones, Robert Portal, Philip Jackson, Zoe Wanamaker, Jim Carter, Dominic Cooper
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
- Michelle Williams – Shutter Island, Brokeback Mountain, The United States of Leland, A Thousand Acres
- Eddie Redmayne – Les Misérables, Elizabeth the Golden Age
- Kenneth Branah – everything. Here are a few: Hamlet, Frankenstein, Henry V, Valkyrie, Wallander, Swing Kids, The Boat That Rocked, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rabbit Proof Fence, Shackleton, How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Fortunes of War
- Julia Ormand – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Judi Dench – Hotel Marigold, Cranford, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Ladies in Lavender, The Shipping News, Chocolat, Tea with Mussolini, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs. Brown, 84 Charing Cross Road, A Room with a View, Macbeth
- Emma Watson – the Harry Potter movies
- Derek Jacobi - I Claudius, Henry V, Hamlet, Hamlet (BBC 1980), Gladiator, The King’s Speech, Gosford Park, Dead Again
- Geraldine Somerville – Harry’s mother in the Harry Potter movies, Gosford Park
- Michael Kitchen – Foyle’s War, Oliver Twist, Mrs Dalloway, The Comedy of Errors, King Lear
- Miranda Raison - Merlin
- Tobey Jones – Dobby’s voice in the Harry Potter movies, The Hunger Games, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Frost/Nixon, The Mist, Infamous, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Finding Neverland, Ladies in Lavender,
- Robert Portal – The King’s Speech
- Philip Jackson – Little Voice, Brassed Off and a lot of British TV series
- Zoe Wanamaker – the quiddich coach in the Harry Potter movies, David Copperfield, Wilde, Richard III, Othello and a lot of British TV series
- Jim Carter – Downton Abbey, Shakespeare in Love, Cranford, Modigliani, Ella Enchanted, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Brassed Off, The Madness of King George
- Dominic Cooper – An Education, Mamma Mia
- Why? Kenneth Branagh
- Seen: July 20, 2013
The Marilyn legend continues
to fascinate. This time a based-on-a-memoir
film about a gofer on the set of the Monroe-Olivier comedy The Prince and
the Showgirl made in the 50’s. Marilyn
is still young and insecure, experienced but never believing she is a good
actress. Larry is an aging
actor/producer well aware of his lofty position as one of the best but…aging.
She drives him wild with
frustration over her neurotics. He
scares her and tramples on what self-esteem she might have.
It’s a brilliant idea for a
movie and somehow their movie gets made.
The story is told by young, innocent, dewy-eyed Colin Clark, well played
by Redmayne.
Things could have become
sentimental and sensational but this is Branagh. At times it was spooky to see
him become Olivier. Having seen them both
in Henry V and Hamlet and vastly preferring Branagh, it is
mind-bending to see Branagh’s face become Olivier’s face. How does he do
that?
After my first reaction to Michelle
Williams – “she doesn’t look like Marilyn!” – I forget that she isn’t and I’m
totally convinced.
It’s fun to see other
superstars wander in and out of the movie – Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Emma
Watson, Michael Kitchen, Jim Carter, Zoe Wanamaker.
Still, in spite of all this,
I find myself detached, more admiring the excellence of the movie than being
swallowed up by it. Maybe next time.
3 ½ * of 5