I never had any doubts and/or disillusion about the loneliness of Hollywood. In the glamour, popularity and fans' obsession, one can overlook the fact that those Hollywood stars - [most of them]- are very lonely, very sad people in real life. Most of them don't even have the same 'character' as they portray in the movies, where one sees them making jokes and being fun and witty, etc. As a matter of fact, most often, the Hollywood stars are very sensitive and vulnerable individuals who are surrounded by people, most of whom don't really care about them. Just think of Judy Garland, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe - when in the spotlight, they are beaming and the fans around them are screaming for their attention. Once they are back at home - they are alone, pain-relieving with drugs, dissolving in alcohol and being forgotten by the loved ones.
When I was living in Los Angeles, I often heard someone saying: "I want my kid to go into the movie business, when he/she is older..." And I always thought to myself: "Why would you want your child to suffer?" This is not an easy business, and now that we have access to documentaries, interviews, and unofficial unscripted materials about the 'road' those celebrities take towards the stardom, there leaves us nothing to assume that the business is a positive experience one. On the contrary, I recall when I was still in college and I wrote to one of the film studios in Hollywood inquiring about an internship within the 'back office' of the film-making - [this kind of inquiry has been inspired by my conversation I had with one of the filmmakers of the Titanic, who came to give a lecture at my university; this woman talked so passionately about the film business, that her drive in addition to having a great professor, former student of Francis Ford Coppola, for my film studies, I decided to pursue a management career in Hollywood] - so, when I wrote my letter, I got a rather interesting response from...shocking - the producer of The Bone Collector, who basically discouraged me from going to Hollywood.
As yesterday, I remember his words: "You owe your parents an education and lifestyle away from Hollywood. Hollywood is the lowest of the lowest forms in life... You are too decent and innocent to be in Hollywood, and you've got the education that would allow you to have a much better life..."
That was something I'll remember all my life, and once I was actually living in Los Angeles and working for a film producer, I finally understood those words. Hollywood is a dirty, dirty world, and the Hollywood stars are very sad, very abused, and very exposed people. So, I left. I left LA and Hollywood after in one of my many conversations I told my long time friend and mentor, Brian Glover - who worked as a Director of Photography on more than 100 films in Hollywood - that I couldn't handle the producer I've been working for any longer and that the things I saw and heard on a daily basis are more than I could handle, to which Brian looked at me and said: "You need to leave LA right now. You are not f*cked up enough for LA..."
As yesterday, I remember his words: "You owe your parents an education and lifestyle away from Hollywood. Hollywood is the lowest of the lowest forms in life... You are too decent and innocent to be in Hollywood, and you've got the education that would allow you to have a much better life..."
That was something I'll remember all my life, and once I was actually living in Los Angeles and working for a film producer, I finally understood those words. Hollywood is a dirty, dirty world, and the Hollywood stars are very sad, very abused, and very exposed people. So, I left. I left LA and Hollywood after in one of my many conversations I told my long time friend and mentor, Brian Glover - who worked as a Director of Photography on more than 100 films in Hollywood - that I couldn't handle the producer I've been working for any longer and that the things I saw and heard on a daily basis are more than I could handle, to which Brian looked at me and said: "You need to leave LA right now. You are not f*cked up enough for LA..."
So, now when I hear people say about the Hollywood actors: "I wish I were them...", "They are soooo lucky..." or "I wish I had their life..." I just smile. Little do they know.
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| Me working in Hollywood, at the producer's office. 2007. |
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| The office's window/front office that saw many things that happen in film-making business...and which you don't know about... |
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| My little office, working as an Executive Assistant to a film producer in Hollywood. |
That brings me to my latest subject - the 'noir' film My Week With Marilyn from the director Simon Curtis .
First of all - the film would not had have received the overwhelming positive feedback from the critics and audience if it weren't for the brilliant cast of the actors that, actually, carried the most weight of the film to the brilliance of what, otherwise, would have been a rather incomplete script. Seven days with Merilyn Monroe? Isn't it too short of the time to get to know one of the most beloved and 'controversial' stars in Hollywood? However, this is not what the director wanted to do. The aim of the film - I think - was to show in those few days a bit of what was Monroe like on and off stage, and, thus, the film did a great job.
First of all - the film would not had have received the overwhelming positive feedback from the critics and audience if it weren't for the brilliant cast of the actors that, actually, carried the most weight of the film to the brilliance of what, otherwise, would have been a rather incomplete script. Seven days with Merilyn Monroe? Isn't it too short of the time to get to know one of the most beloved and 'controversial' stars in Hollywood? However, this is not what the director wanted to do. The aim of the film - I think - was to show in those few days a bit of what was Monroe like on and off stage, and, thus, the film did a great job.
I really liked the film. I had no expectations for the film whatsoever, because I haven't been a big fan of Michelle Williams, who, nevertheless, I believe is a great actress with a great acting stretch. I strongly believe that she deserves an Oscar for this part.
As much as it is relatively impossible for an actor portray another very distinctive actor, Williams did a great job, which can be explained by the fact that she, actually, put in much effort to get to know Monroe both as an actress AND as a person by watching and reading all there's about the actress for 10 months prior the filming. That's very noticeable in the way Williams played Monroe - she got it down to every small detail of the actress - from the way Monroe talked with her 'lips' to the way she walked and moved.
As much as it is relatively impossible for an actor portray another very distinctive actor, Williams did a great job, which can be explained by the fact that she, actually, put in much effort to get to know Monroe both as an actress AND as a person by watching and reading all there's about the actress for 10 months prior the filming. That's very noticeable in the way Williams played Monroe - she got it down to every small detail of the actress - from the way Monroe talked with her 'lips' to the way she walked and moved.
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| Marilyn Monroe with Arthur Miller |
The film shows seven days out of Marilyn Monroe's work on the film The Prince and the Showgirl in Britain. The filming scenes between Monroe and Laurence Olivier are as perfect as the scenes of Monroe with her then third husband Arthur Miller and the crew. The film, again - [and I say it again and again] - shows how, despite for the crazy popularity, lonely Monroe really was. She wanted to be just a woman, a woman to be loved and cared about - but everyone else only saw her as Monroe - THAT voluptuous Monroe with boobs and bottom that drove all the men in the world crazy and for the charm she had on camera - once she actually was able to remember her lines in a film.
Monroe cannot be a person to be jealous about, because she had nothing but her popularity - she had no men, no children, no family to care and be cared about. Once she would leave a movie set, she was alone, she was misunderstood, she was judged, she was treated as another 'stupid bombshell' in Hollywood....I don't know if the intentions of the director was to actually bring the audience to pity the Hollywood greatest star and sex symbol of all times, but that's exactly what Simon Curtis did and he did it superbly.
Monroe cannot be a person to be jealous about, because she had nothing but her popularity - she had no men, no children, no family to care and be cared about. Once she would leave a movie set, she was alone, she was misunderstood, she was judged, she was treated as another 'stupid bombshell' in Hollywood....I don't know if the intentions of the director was to actually bring the audience to pity the Hollywood greatest star and sex symbol of all times, but that's exactly what Simon Curtis did and he did it superbly.
In 1956, Marilyn Monroe came to Britain to make a movie at Pinewood Studios with Laurence Olivier. What should have been a light comedy The Prince and the Showgirl, the film has not received as a wide popularity as were Monroe's other iconic films like How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and Some Like It Hot (1959). The film shows great insecurity Monroe had about her acting skills and the people's true intentions. She was far from stupid, as many thought of her and portrayed her in other projects. She was far from having a high self-esteem. On the contrary, she was very sensual, feminine and...sad. She very well understood why men married her. She very well understood what film directors and crew thought of her. She very well understood who she was... And the drugs and alcohol helped her to forget it, sadly - at the end - leading her to death at the age of 36.
The 'affair' with a young boy from the director's crew she started to have on the film set was not an affair between a woman and a man. It was more as a getaway friendship with someone who thought of her more than just a Hollywood star, someone whose intentions were innocent and who could understand her child-at-heart soul trapped in the body of a very sexual woman she, actually, was not.
The film - [if that's the purpose of it] - serves its objective. Those only seven days tell more about the woman we all thought we knew - Marilyn Monroe - than any of the biographies and documentaries about her out there.
When I was living in Los Angeles, a friend of mine took me to Monroe's grave, which, unlike many other celebrities, is not at the cemetery outside LA, but rather in one of the city's small cemeteries. When we came there, I was astonished to see that it was not even a grave, it was rather a small plate among many others in the wall, but it was the only plate that had a fresh flower placed in the little vase by. I guess, even after all these years, there's someone who drops by to put a fresh flower for a woman who died too soon, and died alone.
The 'affair' with a young boy from the director's crew she started to have on the film set was not an affair between a woman and a man. It was more as a getaway friendship with someone who thought of her more than just a Hollywood star, someone whose intentions were innocent and who could understand her child-at-heart soul trapped in the body of a very sexual woman she, actually, was not.
The film - [if that's the purpose of it] - serves its objective. Those only seven days tell more about the woman we all thought we knew - Marilyn Monroe - than any of the biographies and documentaries about her out there.
When I was living in Los Angeles, a friend of mine took me to Monroe's grave, which, unlike many other celebrities, is not at the cemetery outside LA, but rather in one of the city's small cemeteries. When we came there, I was astonished to see that it was not even a grave, it was rather a small plate among many others in the wall, but it was the only plate that had a fresh flower placed in the little vase by. I guess, even after all these years, there's someone who drops by to put a fresh flower for a woman who died too soon, and died alone.
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| This is the photo I took of Marilyn Monroe's grave in 2007. |
Film Cast: Dame Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Dominic Cooper, Dougray Scott, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond, Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Williams, Toby Jones, Zoe Wanamaker.
See the trailer here:
See the trailer here:
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