Wow, I have to say, the music, the imagery and just the overall editing of this first trailer for My Week with Marilyn has won me over already. I try not to watch too many trailers but I didn’t want to just regurgitate the same commentary again saying Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh are vying for Oscars with their respective portrayals of Marilyn Monroe and Sir Laurence Olivier so I decided to watch and … again … WOW! I loved it.
Based on a true story, My Week with Marilyn depicts one week in the life of Marilyn Monroe, which she spends with 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), an assistant to Olivier who is directing Monroe’s latest film, The Prince and the Showgirl. The film focuses on the time Clark spent with Monroe when her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller, leaves England and Colin is able to introduce Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life. The film co-stars Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller, Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh (Olivier’s wife), Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike, and Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Emma Watson and Derek Jacobi.
Watching the trailer I can’t say I get a particular feel for Williams’ performance or Branagh’s for that matter, the latter of which is sort of pushed to the side in this particular trailer, left only to snarl on screen a few times.
Instead, the music and the story are what’s being sold here, which is to say if you thought the trailers for War Horse and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close were selling Oscar contenders (I wouldn’t know, I didn’t watch either of those), I’d say this trailer is selling a movie through and through.
My favorite pieces of the trailer are Ben Smithard’s photography and that final line… “Shall I be her?” Perfect.
My Week with Marilyn will play the New York Film Festival this Sunday, October 9, the Mill Valley Film Festival two days later and the Chicago International Film Festival a day after that before finally hitting theaters on November 4. Give the trailer a watch and browse a selection of images I’ve collected below and tell me what you think. Obviously… I’m sold.
