Early in the summer of 1956, American film star Marilyn Monroe set foot on British soil for the first time. On honeymoon with her husband, the celebrated playwright Arthur Miller, Monroe came to England to shoot THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL – the film that famously united her with Sir Laurence Olivier, the British theatre and film legend who directed and co-starred in the film.

That same summer, 23-year-old Colin Clark set foot on a film set for the first time in his life. Newly graduated from Oxford, Clark aspired to be a filmmaker and found a job as a lowly production hand on the set of THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL.
Forty years later, he recounted his experiences of the six-month shoot in a diary-style memoir entitled The Prince, the Showgirl and Me.

But one week in Clark’s account was missing.

It wasn’t until years later that Clark revealed why. In a follow-up memoir entitled My Week with Marilyn, he recounted the true story of one magical week he spent alone with the world’s biggest star… the week he spent with Marilyn.

By turns comic and poignant, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, Based on Colin Clark’s diaries, The Prince, The Showgirl and Me and My Week with Marilyn, offers an uncommonly intimate look at the Hollywood icon, charting the brief, charged connection she forged with a young man who came to understand her better than anyone.

MY WEEK WITH MARILYN stars Academy Award® nominee Michelle Williams (BLUE VALENTINE, SHUTTER ISLAND, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) as Marilyn Monroe and Tony Award winner Eddie Redmayne (THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL, THE GOOD SHEPHERD) as Colin Clark.
The film also stars Academy Award nominee Kenneth Branagh (VALKYRIE, “Wallander”) as Sir Laurence Olivier and Academy Award winner Judi Dench (QUANTUM OF SOLACE, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) as Dame Sybil Thorndike.
They are joined by the very best of British acting talent, including Julia Ormond (“Temple Grandin,” CHE, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON) as Vivien Leigh, Dougray Scott (MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II) as Arthur Miller, and Zoe Wanamaker (HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER‟S STONE), Emma Watson (HARRY POTTER series), Toby Jones (FROST/ NIXON, INFAMOUS), Philip Jackson (LITTLE VOICE), Geraldine Somerville (HARRY POTTER series), Derek Jacobi (THE KING‟S SPEECH, GOSFORD PARK), Simon Russell Beale (AN IDEAL HUSBAND) and Dominic Cooper (DEVIL‟S DOUBLE, AN EDUCATION, MAMMA MIA!).

Simon Curtis‟s director credits include the BAFTA and Emmy®-winning, “CRANFORD”, the International Emmy-winning, A SHORT STAY IN SWITZERLAND, and the Golden Globe nominated “Five Days”.
The film is produced by Academy Award and BAFTA winners David Parfitt (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, I CAPTURE THE CASTLE) and Harvey Weinstein (THE KING‟S SPEECH, THE GANGS OF NEW YORK, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE). The screenplay is by Adrian Hodges (TOM AND VIV, THE RUBY IN THE SMOKE, DAVID COPPERFIELD).

The film is produced by Trademark Films and is financed and distributed by The Weinstein Company. BBC Films and Lipsync Productions also financed the picture. It was developed in association with the UK Film Council and BBC Films.

Director’s quotes:

“For a lot of people Marilyn is more of an iconic image than an actress,” admits director Simon Curtis. “People haven’t seen her films as much as they have her portrait. My way into this project was falling in love with the first of Colin Clark’s two memoirs. As somebody who was assistant director at The Royal Court Theatre, I found it fascinating to uncover this moment in time.”

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when My Week with Marilyn was published,” avows Curtis. “Colin really did have this tense, erotically charged week with the most famous woman in the world, at the peak of her fame. I couldn’t believe my luck when I was able to get hold of the rights. People had tried over the years. And in the last year I’ve met at least three very established directors who have said, I’ve always wanted to make that story.‟ So I feel very lucky.”

Indeed, Curtis identifies the film’s story as following the same tradition as the popular, nuanced film, LOST IN TRANSLATION. “Two people accidentally come into each other’s orbit and have this very charged connection, which then evaporates, and that appealed to me,” says the director. “Also, the story chimes very much with our present fascination with celebrity. Now, with

Twitter, you get very much into the details of how stars live, but back then things were much more controlled, so I liked how Colin gives us this inside track.”

A veteran of the stage and the small screen, Curtis has waited a long time to make his directorial feature debut. “There have been films I have nearly done but I’m really, really thrilled that my first film is what they call a passion project, not something I’ve just stumbled into. It’s something I’ve always dreamt of making so it’s a great starting point.”

by Ilaria Rebecchi

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