Doing movies based on fact are tricky. The casting of actors who are to play people who have existed brings certain questions to mind:
1) Does the actor look the part?
2) Does the actor sound like the part?
3) Can the actor act the part properly without seeming like a mockery?
The answers to these questions in regards to My Week with Marilyn are.
1) Hells ya she looks the part
2) Hells ya she sounds the part
3) Hells ya she acts the part, and it's never mocking.
The lady in question in this movie of course is Michelle Williams as she portrays Marilyn during a week a filming the movie The Prince and the Showgirl with Sir Lawrence Olivier. I still remember her as the promiscuous smart girl on Dawson Creek and her awesome performance in Brokeback Mountain. She truly has grown as an actor and I can only wonder what she will surprise us with next.
I liked My Week with Marilyn. LOVED My Week with Marilyn. It's a story about love found, love gained, love lost. You felt for these characters as they revolved around Marilyn like she was the sun to our galaxy.
One character in particular is our main character - who is not Marilyn. Eddie Redmayne plays Colin Clark, an assistant on on-set who Marilyn takes a liking to. Colin and Marilyn eventually fall into an innocent affair among all the craziness that is involved in filming a movie. I've gotta say, I have a weakness for guys like Eddie Redmayne.
He should be my leading man ;-)
An underused Judi Dench stood out as ultra sweet actor Sybil Thorndike. Emma Watson from Harry Potter fame has a small part as a wardrobe assistant that Colin crushes on, and Kenneth Branagh impresses as Lawrence Olivier.
Our two leads though are the centerpiece of this film and they are a very sweet pair to watch.
This is a really good movie that sadly didn't get the exposure it needed in the states. Michelle Williams truly enchants and adds depth to this sex icon in Week with Marilyn.
