Lifetime wants to add to the lore of Marilyn Monroe with its own movie based on the blonde bombshell, Deadline reports. The TV movie "Marilyn" will be based on the biography The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli.
"Marilyn" joins Lifetime's recent surge of famous female flicks including "Coco Chanel," "Georgia O'Keefe," "Liz & Dick" (Elizabeth Taylor), "The Anna Nicole Story" and "Ring of Fire" (June Carter Cash). The women's cable network also has biopics in production based on the lives of Whitney Houston and Aaliyah.
Stephen Kronish, who wrote for "The Kennedys" miniseries featuring Monroe, wrote the script for "Marilyn." Catherine Hicks and Constance Forslund both portrayed Monroe in 1980 TV biopics based on the 1950s movie star. Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino played the sex symbol in the 1996 TV movie "Norma Jean & Marilyn".
Michelle Williams played Monroe in the 2011 feature film "My Week with Marilyn". The characters on NBC's "Smash" attempted to create Broadway musical based on her called "Bombshell."
Lifetime will premiere "I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story" next year. Angela Basset will direct the movie with Yaya DaCosta as Houston. The movie follows the iconic performer's early success in the music industry and her difficult relationship with Bobby Brown. Houston accidentally drowned in her hotel room at The Beverly Hilton in 2012.
The Aaliyah biopic already had a casting change for its title role. "Aaliyah: Princess of R&B" originally cast 17-year-old Disney star Zendaya Coleman for the lead role. She later dropped out because of concerns over the production, she explained in three videos posted to her Instagram.
"The main reasons were the production value wasn't there, there were complications with the music rights, and I just felt like it wasn't being handled delicately considering the situation," Coleman said. "I tried my best to reach out to the family on my own and I wrote a letter, but I was unable to do so. Therefore, I felt not really morally okay with moving forward with the project.
Alexandra Shipp won the part after Coleman's departure. Aaliyah died in a plane crash at the height of her popularity in 2001. She was 22 years old.
