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Michelle Williams (R), a scene from My Week with Marilyn
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The year began on a high note for actor Michelle Williams, who swept the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her critically-acclaimed portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn. The role also helped her garner her third Academy Award nomination, second nomination for Best Actress. Here the actress talks about portraying the iconic Marilyn on the big screen, about temptations of falling in love with her leading men...
Tell us about your discovery of the Marilyn in you and getting inside her head...
It all started with watching movies, listening to interviews and pouring over books. It’s almost like a multiple role, because you’re playing someone who’s playing a role herself, and then who’s playing a role in a movie. And the nude thing, too. It was very self-conscious. So, it all started at home, watching movies and trying to mimic a walk, or figuring out how exactly is it that she’s holding her mouth. And these flashes of skin become so much more erotic.
How did you bag this role?
Simon Curtis, the director, came to me and said, ‘I want to make a movie of these books.’ I had read the books for fun, but I never actually thought about them as a movie. But he and Adrian Hodges had a script written and it was quite good. It was charming and fun. As I was reading, I was sure that I can, I will and I must do this role…!
Did you think of it like you were playing three Marilyns — the private woman, the public sex goddess and her character in The Prince?
I don’t know if we ever talked about it like that. I know that there are three different aspects, but I don’t know how much it helps me to think of them as three separate people. Because they are, of course, connected.
How about the way she switched up the whole idea of female sexuality?
Well, it seems like for the most part that it’s forgotten. It’s like, did they have to lay down with their husbands at night in the biblical sense? And the answer is yes.
Are you ever tempted to fall in love with your leading men?
There’re a lot of goodbyes in this business. Goodbye to the people you met in the places you’ll never return to. Goodbye to the character you played. And goodbye to the actor you pretended to be in love with!
Were there any avenues of research that proved especially rewarding?
I read anything and everything that I could get my hands on. The most useful thing was to watch her movies over and over again, to have them in my ears, to make them play like a screen in my mind.
Do you have any favourites?
I am very fond of The Prince and the Showgirl. I can’t count the number of times I have seen it! Of course Some Like It Hot and I have special affection for The Misfits as it was a treasured opportunity for her to take on a dramatic role.
What was the challenge of singing in the movie?
Marilyn Monroe was a creation. And that creation took a lot of personal work. And she also had teachers. Trainers were sort of more common then. Professionals that would help make these stars, and help develop these talents. I was, as she was, very lucky on this movie to be surrounded and supported by great people. I’m not a singer; I have not sung since I was ten years old, but I had a wonderful man, David Crane, who worked with me every day for a couple of weeks — taught me about breathing and about how to deliver emotion on lines, instead of just the words. So I had him. And then in my ears, I listened to — I still do, it comes up on my iPod all the time — all the Marilyn Monroe singing. I listened to her. And she was very influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, and so I listened to a lot of that.
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