Back when we first heard about director Andrew Dominik‘s cinematic adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates‘ “Blonde” (itself an interpretation of the life of Marilyn Monroe), the big concern was that the film would be facing off against another Monroe biopic, the Michelle Williams-starring My Week With Marilyn. But Dominik’s film was ultimately delayed, My Week With Marilyn earned Williams an Oscar nod, Watts signed on to play another famous blond (Princess Diana), and it seemed as if we might never see Blonde on the big screen. Thankfully, we were wrong.
The Playlist sat down with the Killing Them Softly director earlier this week, and the filmmaker told the outlet about his next project, which is now slated to be Blonde, saying quite simply: ”I’m going to do this movie called Blonde, which is about Marilyn Monroe.” He went on to say that the film is “about her whole life. It starts when she’s seven and it ends when she dies.” He also compared it to “a Polanski descent-into-madness-type movie,” which sounds pretty much excellent. He added to that by saying, ”It’s very pseudo-Freudian. The lines between fantasy and reality become very blurred in the story.”
Dominik also shared that he plans to start the film next year and that, while Watts is still attached to the film, “anything can happen.” Let’s hope that includes Watts staying on board, though Dominik’s admission that the film would track Monroe’s entire life certainly means that we might need a whole mess of Marilyns for different ages.
We got our first look at Watts in character as Monroe way back in May of 2010, but the project was later delayed that year so that Dominik could make Killing Them Softly. Here’s to hoping that the project really is back on track now.