Eddie Redmayne, "My Week With Marilyn" Star Talks "Some Like It Hot," Michelle Williams and Wardrobe Malfunctions

Getty Images

Eddie Redmayne, the 29-year-old star of Simon Curtis’ upcoming film “My Week With Marilyn,” revealed last Sunday night at the Dior-hosted party at the Hudson Hotel that before agreeing to play Colin Clark, the documentary director who recorded his first experience on the set of a film in "The Prince, The Showgirl and Me," he was “incredibly ignorant of both Monroe and her films.” It was only at the suggestion of Michelle Williams, who played plays his love interest, that Redmayne started to do his research. “Michelle kept saying whenever I was complaining about working hard, ‘When you’re playing James Dean, then you’re allowed to complain. Until then...’ So I went and watched a load of Marilyn Monroe films from that period. ‘Some Like It Hot’ I think is my favorite.”

While Redmayne may have preferred ‘Some Like It Hot,’ “My Week With Marilyn” depicts the making of her 1957 film, “The Prince and the Showgirl” in which she starred alongside Sir Laurence Olivier, who is played Kenneth Branaugh. Redmayne explained, “Colin is from this wealthy background, which is completely anomalous with the film-making world.” How does he start to integrate into his new life? “It starts with him having these beautifully cut suits, which are totally inappropriate wear for a film set, and gradually he broke that down as he became more a part of, well, as he sort of assimilated himself with the film-making community.”

Attention to detail didn’t end with Redmayne’s ensembles, his female co-stars, Michelle Williams, Judi Dench and Emma Watson didn’t have it easy, “they sort of virtually had to be sewn into their costumes and you couldn’t sit down. So in the film, there was a prop, a scene, in which you see her standing, leaning against these sort of boards specifically made for her and occasionally, Michelle would use that as well.” Redmayne recalls, “all the costumes from ‘The Prince and The Showgirl’ were recreated for the film. Judi Dench has an extraordinary beaded costume, but it had to be put together in a very limited time. Although it looked beautiful, there was occasionally a string of beads that would disappear and cause a bit of a roller-coaster ride on set.” Fortunately, the film does not have any visible wardrobe malfunctions.