Eddie Redmayne As Colin Clark
Finding Marilyn Monroe for My Week With Marilyn was crucial but so was the role of Colin Clark - from whose novels this movie is based.
And director Simon Curtis reveals that he has been a longstanding fan of actor Eddie Redmayne and saw something of Clark in him
To bring Colin Clark to the screen, Curtis pursued the highly regarded young actor Eddie Redmayne. 'I’ve always loved Eddie,' explains the director, 'and like Colin, Eddie is an old Etonian and has these qualities that are from the right place - he has both emotional maturity and a youthful innocence.-
While Clark was born into a privileged family, he was still considered somewhat bohemian by the standards of the upper class. 'He was at school at Eton with all these aristocrats but actually he was an oddball because his family was not all within that posh context,' explains Redmayne.
'They’d have Laurence Olivier or Margot Fonteyn over for dinner whereas everyone else was shooting and fishing.
'He seems to be a guy who has everything. But he’s actually an eccentric who’s been out in the world trying to prove his worth to his parents, to the rest of his high-achieving family, and also to himself.'
Charming, bright and most importantly, tenacious, Clark’s selflessness proves to be his most winning attribute. 'Colin is a very caring guy and a very generous-spirited guy,' muses Redmayne. 'And all this chaos is going on around him, this explosion of talent, egos, energy, and sexuality.'
In the film, the 23-year-old Clark is an appealing, confident young man, though perhaps not quite as mature as he assumes he is. 'He thinks that he’s a bit of a player,' admits Redmayne with a smile.
'I spoke to a lady who was the press officer on the original film and she said that Colin was a complete charmer and he could make anyone change their mind.
'It’s that slight arrogance of youth. But he definitely learns a serious lesson in this film. It’s a subtle coming-of-age story.'
And not many young men learn worldly wisdom from one of the most famous, iconic women of all time.
Adds Redmayne, 'It’s amazing that this runner, who has never worked on a film set before, could build a more intimate friendship with the leading lady than anyone else on the set. That is one of the wonderfully bizarre, brilliant things about filmmaking.'
Redmayne believes that the friendship was possible in part because of Clark’s sensitivity as an observer, something he would put to use later in life as a documentary filmmaker.
'He senses Marilyn’s fragility amidst all of the chaos on set,' says the actor. 'He sees behind closed doors. And he doesn’t have a fear of celebrity, having grown up in a household where he was having tea with Olivier or Fonteyn and great composers of the period.
'The celebrity washes over him but what remains is the dazzling quality Marilyn has and that really extraordinary thing: vulnerability. That’s what he falls for.'
Early in his time on set, Clark flirts with a young wardrobe assistant, played by Emma Watson, in what seems like a budding romantic relationship. But that courtship is derailed by Clark’s fascination with Marilyn and his desire to get closer to her.
'Colin does dare to dream that his friendship with Marilyn could lead to more, and certainly from what the book describes, the idea of kissing her on that frivolous utopian day of freedom is all wonderful,' explains Redmayne.
Though their week together certainly carries an undeniable erotic charge, Clark and Monroe find themselves navigating more complex emotional terrain than that of a typical love affair.
Says Redmayne, 'Theirs is a strange relationship. It’s a mixture of mother and son and then the opposite in some way with him fathering her.
'It’s a very light and sometimes meaningful relationship, but also a wispy thing that they have. That’s what I love about it. It is a fleeting thing between Colin and Marilyn.'
My Week With Marilyn is out now.
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