[Article] Naomi on the challenging & difficult role of Marilyn Monroe

Naomi Watts wants to tackle the role Marilyn Monroe.

On the day after the premiere of Fair Game, she told the press about taking on another high-profile true-life woman – Marilyn Monroe.

Watts begins work late this year as the bombshell actress for the film Blonde, based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, and directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford).
"He's going to want to get into the nitty gritty of it. It's beyond the sort of sexual goddess. He wants to get into many different characters in her life, her family story. … It covers a lot," says Watts, who is just beginning her research into the character.


"The tragedy, I think, is the big thing," Watts adds. "She was able to ma
nipulate the press, I think but she was a wounded soul, and that couldn't be hidden so well."

It's a major risk to take on such an iconic figure, but Watts says that daunting quality is what made her say yes.

"I'm at the point where unless I'm out of my comfort zone, it's not worth leaving home for," she says. "I've got two gorgeous kids in my home and my life, and I'm not going to spend a minute away from them, unless it's something I really want to play."