It’s been a while since much has heard about drama My Week With Marilyn, which saw Michelle Williams attached to the role of Marilyn Monroe. Now it appears the film will be getting another respected actor, withKenneth Branagh in talks to play Sir Laurence Olivier in the film.
**My Week With Marilyn **is taken from the missing pages of Olivier employee Colin Clark’s diary, which he kept while working for the actor. In 1957, Clark was assigned to look after Monroe when she arrived in London to appear in The Prince And The Showgirl. A year later, Clark published excerpts from his recollections about the making of the film, but crucially left the week he spent locked away with the actress.
In 2002, the entries were unearthed and are now the basis for the film, which telly-directing veteran Simon Curtis (he’s worked on the likes of Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, David Copperfield and Five Days, among others) is making as his film debut.
Production Weekly reports (via The Playlist) that Branagh is circling the role of Olivier, which makes sense, since he was for years considered his natural heir. The one sticking point might be Marilyn’s possible September shoot date, since Branagh is still slightly busy working on a little movie called Thor for Marvel. Maybe by then he'll have completed enough work on the superhero film to afford the time off to act. Either that, or he'll be sneaky and take a few sick days. "[cough cough] I think I got the black lung, Odin." Well, it could work...