Joyce Carol Oates' novel, and a project again directed by Joyce Chopra(Laura Dern in ""Smooth Talk" see my review there as well). Since I love JCO I would recommend you read her novel "Blonde" as well, there has been considerable editing in this TV film.
Poppy Montgomery is surprisingly good, she looks much more like MM than Mira Sorvino ("Marilyn, Norma Jean", which I also reviewed). She is believable, and tragic, not AS helpless as the Sorvino portrayal; She is basically a lost soul trying to survive the L.A. Hollywood system, which in the 1940's and 50's must have been brutal. We can only imagine. One casting mistake is Patricia Richardson as MM's mother (why Richardson, did she still have a good TVQ from 1990?)
You will also be amused with Kirstie Alley as one of Norma Jean's foster mothers, who finally married her off to Jim Dougherty, the first husband. Dougherty is portrayed as a callous dolt, which seems pretty close to the mark, if you read any of Marilyn's biographies. I highly recommend you do, if you are interested in Monroe's true story; she is not as one-dimensional or stultifyingly stupid as she was portrayed.
In the beginning her career we see Eric Bogosian as her photographer, who is at once amusing and repulsive at the same time. We later see Marilyn being grilled by the studio for posing nude (the legendary calendar photo, for which she received $50.00) The scene is pathetic, and the story begins to unravel at this point. Perhaps if they had delineated some of the other travails MM had experienced such as her involvement with studio executives, we would understand the humiliations and degradations she was subjected to, to become a "star".
Therein lies the real tragedy; how she is seen and portrayed by film, novels, etc. today. We have seen the Kennedy stories, the DiMaggio stories, the Peter Lawford stories, the psychoanalyst's stories. What about the true story of Marilyn?. If you watch the film as pure entertainment, it is watchable; to learn more about the real Marilyn, read biographies, in particular there was a book written by Anthony Summers "Goddess" which has more factual information, if you are interested.
Poppy Montgomery is surprisingly good, she looks much more like MM than Mira Sorvino ("Marilyn, Norma Jean", which I also reviewed). She is believable, and tragic, not AS helpless as the Sorvino portrayal; She is basically a lost soul trying to survive the L.A. Hollywood system, which in the 1940's and 50's must have been brutal. We can only imagine. One casting mistake is Patricia Richardson as MM's mother (why Richardson, did she still have a good TVQ from 1990?)
You will also be amused with Kirstie Alley as one of Norma Jean's foster mothers, who finally married her off to Jim Dougherty, the first husband. Dougherty is portrayed as a callous dolt, which seems pretty close to the mark, if you read any of Marilyn's biographies. I highly recommend you do, if you are interested in Monroe's true story; she is not as one-dimensional or stultifyingly stupid as she was portrayed.
In the beginning her career we see Eric Bogosian as her photographer, who is at once amusing and repulsive at the same time. We later see Marilyn being grilled by the studio for posing nude (the legendary calendar photo, for which she received $50.00) The scene is pathetic, and the story begins to unravel at this point. Perhaps if they had delineated some of the other travails MM had experienced such as her involvement with studio executives, we would understand the humiliations and degradations she was subjected to, to become a "star".
Therein lies the real tragedy; how she is seen and portrayed by film, novels, etc. today. We have seen the Kennedy stories, the DiMaggio stories, the Peter Lawford stories, the psychoanalyst's stories. What about the true story of Marilyn?. If you watch the film as pure entertainment, it is watchable; to learn more about the real Marilyn, read biographies, in particular there was a book written by Anthony Summers "Goddess" which has more factual information, if you are interested.