What great news, if true. Chastain is really the perfect actress to embody Marilyn, both physically and otherwise. She exudes the same kind of champagne-like aura. Chastain, like Monroe, draws you in while able to reveal vulnerability at the same time. This versatile actress has really needed just the right role to show us what she can REALLY do and this just might be it. Andrew Dominik is exactly the kind of filmmaker internet peeps, film critics and bloggers jiz over, with The Assassination of Jesse James being a high point. But yeah, expect many a gasm over that one. Me, I’m more excited about Ms. Chastain.
Two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain is nearing a deal to play Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik’s passion project “Blonde,” multiple individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap.
Representatives for Chastain and Worldview Entertainment did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
First announced in 2010, “Blonde” is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ 700-page novel of the same name, which reimagines the inner, poetic and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker — the child, the woman and the fated-celebrity better known by her studio name of Marilyn Monroe.
Oates drew on biographical and historical sources to paint an intimate portrait of Marilyn that reveals a fragile, gifted young woman who repeatedly remade her identity to overcome the odds and define stardom in the 1950s.
The pic is expected to be a little different from Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn:
“It’s a really sprawling, emotional nightmare fairy-tale type movie… about an abandoned orphan who gets lost in the woods,” Dominik told The Playlist at Cannes in 2012.
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Chastain is such a good actress. I think, given the script, that she could pull off a great characterization. Depends on the script, the director, etc. But she herself, without doubt, could play Marilyn Monroe convincingly. I don’t understand why anybody doesn’t think so. I’m excited about seeing this project.
Whatever happened to Chastain’s “Miss Julie” – I thought it was going to be released in December 2013. Anybody know when a release date is planned for this movie?
Here’s what Dominik told Hitfix about it:
“I’ve been working on it for years and I think I’ve finally got a version of it that’s doable for the money. So I’m pretty excited to go make that film. The movie’s kind of like a HORROR FILM. It’s a descent into… It’s horrible. It’s absolutely so fucking dark. I’m really, really into it. It’s almost told from the point of view of her internal drama. She’s got this sort of personal mythology about the way she sees the world, and everything that you know about her is recast in that light. So it does a lot of using the audience’s association with iconic things, but against them. I think the movie will be really powerful.”
Don’t anything conventional. The usual biopic/prestige/she-wasn’t-anything-like-that crowd won’t be pleased.
Just saw where Chastain is “in talks” for the next Mission Impossible. Say it ain’t so – I know she has bills to pay, but….
Kane, I have! And you’re on the money. Wonderful debut by Dominik, but again, the realization of how underused Bana is in Hollywood. I wish his career would take off once and for all. He’s consistently good in everything. CHOPPER, TROY, Ang Lee’s HULK, MUNICH, STAR TREK. You’re left wanting to see more of him in HANNA, and I’m really fond of his performance in LUCKY YOU, even if the film as a whole didn’t gel.
Bryce, if you saw Dominik’s first film with Eric Bana you might say he’s 3 for 3. Chopper low budget but Bana’s performance was TNT.
“do we need another Marilyn movie so soon?”’
“What a stupid question.”
What a vapid contribution!
Lindsay Lohan? 🙂
I have nothing against Ms. Chastain. However, to be honest, not only does she not look like the late Marilyn Monroe at all despite the makeup work, she might possibly find it challenging in another sense than simply utilizing her talent to #be [play] a Marilyn Monroe as well, in my opinion.
(I’m not saying she’s not talented; it’s beyond doubt that in general she’s a good/great actress – no-one could possibly make light of her thesp performance in that dimension. On contrary, I’m talking […] the absence of the right aura, etc.; and additionally in a sense she just doesn’t have the right vibes.)
(From the banner pic [for the time being; if that’s her], however, I’m quite certain that she could possibly play Gemma Arterton . . . . )
‘do we need another Marilyn movie so soon?’
What a stupid question.
I agree thought, about Michelle Williams being great in everything, and everything being better because of her so I was just realizing how far back my allegiances to Williams go; so much that my own Michelle Williams Year was 1998, that’s when DAWSON’S CREEK started and HALLOWEEN H20 came out.
Maybe it’s because I’m not a big fan of Marilyn (she often played the dumb blonde stereotype with the high-pitched voice, like in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, a film I kinda hated), but Jessica Chastain who I really like doesn’t seem like the right fit for her. She has played ethereal (The Tree of Life) and tough (Zero Dark Thirty). I would argue Celia Foote in The Help was far from being a “dumb blonde”, although she had some naïvete. I hope Chastain pulls this off, ’cause I don’t want it to be another My Week With Marilyn.
Have any of you seen The Help?
Is it necessary right after Michelle William’s brilliant portrair of Marilyn?
“do we need another Marilyn movie so soon?”
Probably not, but we need a good one at last.
I really like Jessica Chastain, but my initial reactions are: do we need another Marilyn movie so soon? And is Jessica going to look enough like her to ring true enough? Marilyn is SUCH an iconic figure, it is a big big ask to have an audience believe. Michelle Williams was great (my favorite actress that year; along with her sublime work in Sarah Polley’s Take this waltz)
I’m… not entirely sold on Chastain as Marilyn, to be honest. Like, she’s an absolutely wonderful actress, so I don’t doubt she can pull it off, but this isn’t quite the “of course!” casting that was Michelle Williams, in my opinion. When I think of Jessica Chastain, I think of The Tree of Life and Zero Dark Thirty – two completely difference performances, neither of which makes me think she makes sense as Marilyn. She doesn’t have the right look, either – Chastain has a very forceful presence, a strong look that doesn’t mesh with the vulnerability and softness of Marilyn.
Then again, maybe I’m just hung up on her being a redhead. I’m sure she’ll be fine.
I was not a fan of Killing Them Softly, but I did like The Assassination of Jesse James quite a bit, and this project also sounds interesting. I loved Michelle Williams as Marilyn and I think Chastain is a great choice too.
Hmm I’m no sure it’s such as no-brainer as Sasha is saying. Now that I think about it I’m sure Chastain will be perfect, but let’s give Dominik some credit for this -yes- bold casting decision. He’s 2 for 2 so uff.