Ragesh Dipu
The last months of Marilyn Monroe’s life are the subject material for BBC Studios’ upcoming drama series. The project, which a working title, ‘The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe,’ reportedly explores Monroe’s relationship with Hollywood studios and with prominent personalities like JFK and Bobby Kennedy.
According to a Variety report, the show is loosely based on the book ‘The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe: The Shocking True Story,’ written by Keith Badman. BBC Studios, which is the production and commercial wing of BBC, join hands with indie producers Dan Sefton and Simon Lupton’s Seven Seas Films to create the brand new show.
Writer Dan Sefton is known for the popular medical drama ‘Trust Me,’ which will have a revival this year, ‘The Good Karma Hospital,’ and the Sky comedy ‘Delicious.’ The scribe reportedly said he is very excited to bring the incredible true story to the screen. ‘Marilyn’s desire to be taken seriously as an actress and her battle with the powerful men who control the studio system is sadly as relevant today as it ever was, Sefton said in the Variety report.
Monroe, who went on to become one of the biggest stars in the history of cinema, died in August 1962. She was at the 36, and amassed huge fan following around the globe with movies like ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,’ ‘The Seven Year Itch’ and ‘Some Like It Hot.’
Her death triggered a slew of controversies and conspiracy theories ever since. Attributed to an overdose of sleeping pills, her death is still a mystery to the world. Badman’s book tries to solve this mystery from various perspectives. The report suggests that the show will follow the same approach while exploring Monroe’s romantic endeavors with the American baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, John and Bobby Kennedy, and Rat Pack member Peter Lawford.
The show will also depict the much controversial lag in reporting Monroe’s pills overdose to the medical authorities. ‘The show would tackle big themes such as power, love, loyalty and politics,’ says BBC Studios executive producer Anne Pivcevic. ‘In the last few months of her life, Marilyn was sincerely loved, callously betrayed, cynically filled with hope and ultimately cruelly abandoned. Her death changed the lives of everyone in her orbit and cemented her status as a legend,’ she adds in the Variety report.
The final months of Monroe’s life still remain clouded as she became more dependent on alcohol and medication, while her prolific career starts declining at an alarming pace. The show intends to shed light on the fact that how her death could change everyone associated with Monroe and cemented her stature as an enigmatic legend.
There are plenty of works both on TV and the big screen, based on Marilyn Monroe’s life. But, the fans are yet to treat with a humanist portrayal of the actress as a fragile, extravagant, mercurial, sensual, and horribly alone woman. The curious thing about the show is who will step into the boots of Monroe. When Sky TV made the Monroe show, ‘Urban Myths, last year it was the turn of Gemma Arterton to play the iconic actress on screen.
Earlier, there were reports about Netflix making an original movie about the life of Marilyn Monroe. The project is reportedly based on Joyce Carol Oates’ novel ‘Blonde.’ Netflix has hired the Australian screenwriter Andrew Dominik, who wrote ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. ‘Blonde’ was adapted to a miniseries in 2001, with Poppy Montgomery plays Marilyn Monroe. There are unconfirmed reports that Ana de Armas, who played the character Joi in Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Blade Runner 2049’ will appear as Monroe in the Netflix original.
