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Brody, Cannavale Join Cast of ‘Blonde’

Adrien Brody (left) will play Arthur Miller; while Bobby Cannavale (right) has been cast as Joe DiMaggio in the upcoming biopic, Blonde

Adrian Brody, who won an Oscar for The Pianist back in 2002, will play Arthur Miller in Andrew Domink’s Netflix adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ Blonde, as Garth Franklin reports for Dark Horizons. Brody has also appeared in The Grand Budapest Hotel and TV’s Peaky Blinders. Meanwhile, Bobby Cannavale – who won an Emmy for TV’s Boardwalk Empire, and has also acted in films such as Blue Jasmine and I, Tonya, will play Joe DiMaggio. With Ana de Armas set to play Marilyn, we’re sure to hear of more casting decisions soon (and incidentally, Ana posted this tribute to Marilyn on Instagram earlier this month, marking the 57th anniversary of her death.)

UPDATE: Ana was recently spotted on the set of Blonde.
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Marilyn Inspires ‘Heidi’ Debut

Cătălin Mitulescu’s latest film, Heidi – which premieres at the Sarajevo Film Festival this week – has nothing to do with the classic children’s novel and is reportedly closer to ‘a Romanian Fargo.’ In an interview for Variety, Mitulesco reveals the unlikely inspiration behind Cătălina Mihai’s breakout performance as Heidi.

“At the beginning, she was more timid, because Gheorghe [Visu] is a well-known actor, and she was a student. I wanted her to play hard as a character: to charm him, and to play like she’s in control. We talked about many movies, like Some Like It Hot. For her it was an inspiration, Marilyn Monroe. She was playing a prostitute on the outskirts of Bucharest, but that thing was very inspiring for me and for her. I wanted to make her shine more, make her sparkle as a character. She’s very generous. She has this glamour, somehow. I wanted that for the character. She got into that with great pleasure.”

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‘Monkey Business’ at the BFI

The 1952 screwball comedy, Monkey Business, will be screened at London’s BFI Southbank in September as part of a Cary Grant retrospective, and is also The Times’ classic film of the week, as reviewed by Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.

“Grant basically retreads the stiff academic he played in Hawks’s Bringing Up Baby as Dr Fulton, a nutty professor in bottle-end spectacles who is striving to create an elixir of eternal youth. Then one day, a lab chimpanzee breaks out of his cage and, unbeknown to Fulton, beats him to it. When the chimp’s formula ends up in the water supply, Fulton unwittingly drinks it and regresses to his teenage self: losing the specs and whisking his sexy young secretary (rising star Marilyn Monroe, then dubbed the ‘cheesecake queen’ of Hollywood by Hedda Hopper) off to a rollerskating rink. 

The high-concept, chimp-led shenanigans are a tad contrived — though special mention to an excellent simian performance. But this joyful concoction of golden Hollywood greats still fizzes with sublime moments of comedy — not least the scenes between an adoring Monroe and the speccy Grant that were parodied seven years later, by Tony Curtis, in Some Like It Hot. “

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Marilyn’s Irish Cover Story

So many fans have discovered Marilyn through a TV documentary or magazine spread – so it’s a pity that the information isn’t always accurate. Not so, however, if that article is written by respected author Michelle Morgan. This biographical piece first appeared in Emirates Woman back in 2012, and has now been reprinted – and lavishly illustrated – in Social & Personal magazine. Unfortunately, this publication is only sold in Northern Ireland, although Michelle has posted a sneak preview here.

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Fox News Gets ‘Scandalous’ With Marilyn

Marilyn’s life and death is the subject of a new 3-part documentary in the Fox News Channel series, Scandalous. It began last night, and will continue over the next two Sundays. It’s being aired in the US and Australia, but not as yet in Europe. Interviewees include authors Gary Vitacco Robles, Charles Casillo, Donald McGovern and Keith Badman, plus Elisa Jordan of LA Woman Tours and photographer Larry Schiller and Leigh Weiner’s son Devik. This alone could make it worth watching, although fans have already complained about the use of Marilyn’s autopsy photo on both the show and tabloid coverage.

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‘All About Eve’ Coming to Criterion

All About Eve will be reissued on DVD and Blu-Ray in November by the prestigious Criterion Collection, who already have two other Monroe films on their roster (The Asphalt Jungle and Some Like It Hot.)

SPECIAL FEATURES

4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray

Two audio commentaries from 2010, one featuring actor Celeste Holm, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s son Christopher Mankiewicz, and author Kenneth L. Geist; the other featuring author Sam Staggs

All About Mankiewicz, a feature-length documentary from 1983 about the director

Episodes of The Dick Cavett Show from 1969 and 1980 featuring actors Bette Davis and Gary Merrill

New interview with costume historian Larry McQueen

Hollywood Backstories: ‘All About Eve’, a 2001 documentary featuring interviews with Davis and others about the making of the film

Documentaries from 2010 about Mankiewicz’s life and career, the short story on which the film is based and its real-world inspiration, and a real-life ‘Sarah Siddons Society’ based on the film’s fictional society

Radio adaptation of the film from 1951

Trailer

PLUS: An essay by critic Terrence Rafferty and the 1946 short story on which the film is based

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Julien’s Announce Marilyn Auction for November

Costumes from River Of No Return, There’s No Business Like Show Business, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Julien’s Auctions are holding a one-day sale featuring 115 Marilyn-related lots (including several movie costumes) on November 1st, as part of their Legendary Women of Hollywood event. These items will be also be showcased in the lobby of London’s May Fair Hotel from September 24 until October 21. A catalogue for this auction, Property From the Life and Career of Marilyn Monroe, is now available to order here, for $75 plus shipping. (You can read all my posts on the sale here.)

Black cocktail dress worn by Marilyn during a 1958 press conference for Some Like It Hot
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Marilyn’s Glamour Tips in ‘My Weekly’

Marilyn gets a double-page spread in the latest issue of UK magazine My Weekly (dated August 13-20 – watch out for TV presenter Ruth Langsford on the cover), with fashion and beauty tips plus a hair makeover starring tribute artist Suzie Kennedy, all from Michelle Morgan’s newly-published The Little Book of Marilyn.

And talking of glamour girls, Marilyn’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes co-star Jane Russell graces the latest cover of the Weekly News.

Thanks to Fraser Penney