Directed by Simon Curtis, the film is based on the memoir of Colin Clark, an assistant director on the 1957 film "The Prince and the Showgirl" who showed Monroe around England when she was there shooting the movie with Laurence Olivier, a classically trained actor and director alternately amazed and frustrated by Monroe's talent, substance abuse, insecurity and Americanized approach to acting.
Williams plays the troubled sex symbol in the film version of Clark's book, while British actor Eddie Redmayne plays Clark and Northern Irish Oscar nominee Kenneth Branagh plays Olivier.
"I'm not a singer or a dancer," Williams told reporters in New York recently. "I hadn't been on stage since I was 10 years old. And, in some ways because of that, I felt like a tremendous outpouring of joy. I felt like a little girl whose dreams came true for the first time. And I was able to tap into what I imagine made Marilyn Monroe so luminous in those singing and dancing numbers."
Williams is the mother of a 6-year-old daughter with late actor Heath Ledger and a former cast member of TV's "Dawson's Creek," who has earned accolades in the past for her work in the films "Blue Valentine" and "Brokeback Mountain."
The actress said she tried not to let herself be overwhelmed by the task of capturing the unique spirit of such a well-known figure in "My Week with Marilyn."
"What I experienced was when you're in that state, your critical mind has to turn off," explained Williams. "There's no room for it because you are remembering steps and lyrics. It's like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time and maybe what makes the performances of hers so magical is that she's not thinking."
To successfully play Monroe, Williams said she needed "a tremendous amount of preparation and the willingness to start at the very beginning, to not know what to do to make mistakes along the do, to not be hard on myself for those and to realize that they are part of the process."
Asked what he learned about Monroe while making the movie, director Curtis, who was sitting beside Williams, replied: "One of the things we, Michelle and I, talked about regarding Marilyn was just how intelligent she was and we were both touched by Marilyn's hunger to be taken seriously as an actress.
Read more:http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2012/02/25/Michelle-Williams-wins-Spirit-Award-for-portrayal-of-Marilyn/UPI-11441330224526/?spt=hs&or=en
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