-
Sir Laurence Olivier: Trying to teach Marilyn how to act is like teaching Urdu to a badger!
-
Arthur Jacobs: Marilyn, is it true you wear nothing in bed but Perfume?
Marilyn Monroe: Darling, as I'm in England let's say I sleep in nothing but Yardley's lavender.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: Marilyn, my darling, you are an angel and I kiss the hem of your garment but why can't you get here on time for the love of FUCK?
Marilyn Monroe: Oh, you have that word in England too, ha?
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: Remember boy, when it comes to women, you're never too old for humiliation.
-
Colin Clark: It's agony because he's a great actor who wants to be a film star, and you're a film star who wants to be a great actress. This film won't help either of you.
-
Milton Greene: Listen, kid, I've known Marilyn for seven years. I fell in love with her, just as you've done. We had 10 days together and that was it. She picked me up. She put me down. That's what she does, she breaks hearts. She will break yours. My advice to you is quit before you get burned.
Colin Clark: I don't need your advice.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Little girls should be told how pretty they are. They should grow up knowing how much their mother loves them.
-
Marilyn Monroe: I want this to be the perfect date. I haven't had a real date since I was 13 years old.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Why do the people I love always leave me?
-
Marilyn Monroe: All people ever see is Marilyn Monroe. As soon as they realize I'm not her, they run.
-
Colin Clark: Marilyn, do one thing for me: Come to the set on time tomorrow and show everyone what you can do. Show Larry that you're a great actress.
-
Dame Sybil Thorndike: First love is such sweet despair, Colin.
-
Lucy: Did she break your heart?
Colin Clark: A little.
Lucy: Good, it needed breaking.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: I think directing a movie is the best job ever created, but Marilyn has cured me of ever wanting to do it again.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Do you know I've been married three times already? How did that happen?
Colin Clark: You were just looking for the right man.
Marilyn Monroe: They always look right at the start.
-
[first lines]
Title Card: In 1956, at the height of her career, Marilyn Monroe went to England to make a film with Sir Laurence Olivier. While there she met a young man named Colin Clark, who wrote a diary about the making of the film. This is their true story.
-
Colin Clark: Everyone remembers their first job. This is the story of mine. I was the youngest in a family of overachievers. My father was a world-famous art historian, and my brother was ahead of me in everything. I was always the disappointment.
-
Colin Clark: I had everything to prove to my family. But I had more to prove to myself.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: You in the union?
Colin Clark: No.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Then you can't have a job on the film.
Colin Clark: Well, how do I get into the union?
Sir Laurence Olivier: By getting a job on the film. It's called a closed shop.
-
Dame Sybil Thorndike: She should use more mascara. When one is young, one should use a lot of mascara. When one is old, they should use much more.
-
Paula Strasberg: We're talking about the difference between the truth and artificial crap.
Sir Laurence Olivier: We're in absolute agreement. Acting is all about truth, and if you can fake that, you'll have a jolly good career.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: [reciting while images of Marilyn play] You do look, my son, in a moved sort, as if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir. Our revels new are ended. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
Colin Clark: Prospero.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Don't forget me.
Colin Clark: As if I could.
-
[last lines]
Colin Clark: Here's what I remember most: her embrace. Her belief in me. And the joy she gave. That was her gift. When I think of her now, I think of that time when a dream came true. And my only talent was not to close my eyes.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Shall I be her?
-
Marilyn Monroe: Forgive my horrible face.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Thank you for being on my side.
-
Colin Clark: Let me protect you from all this.
Marilyn Monroe: What are you gonna do? Marry me?
Colin Clark: Why not? You could quit this. Forget Marilyn Monroe. Forget Hollywood. Let it all go. Just let it go.
Marilyn Monroe: I couldn't just give it up.
Colin Clark: Why not? Why not when it drives you crazy?
Marilyn Monroe: You think I'm crazy?
Colin Clark: I just meant you could be happy.
Marilyn Monroe: I am happy.
Colin Clark: ...Of course you're happy. You're the biggest star in the world.
-
Colin Clark: You're right, we have to forget all this. From now on I am just the third assistant director and we will never look at each other again.
Marilyn Monroe: Maybe just a wink... once in a while.
Colin Clark: [He looks at her, smiles a small sad smile and leaves]
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: She's quite wonderful. No training, no craft, no guile, just pure instinct. Astonishing.
Colin Clark: You should tell her that.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Oh, I will. But she won't believe me. That's probably what makes her great, yet it's certainly what makes her so profoundly unhappy.
-
Marilyn Monroe: I have something in my eye.
-
Roger Smith: Looking a couple of inches taller than when I first saw you.
-
Vivien Leigh: [to Colin] Oh, don't be such a boy, I'm 43 darling. No one will love me for very much longer. Not even you.
-
Colin Clark: [voiceover] Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, these were my heroes. I wanted to be a part of their world.
-
Vanessa: You're very determined.
Colin Clark: I'd do anything to be in the film business.
Vanessa: Anything?
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: What are you doing here?
Colin Clark: You said there might be a job on your film.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Have a cigarette. Keep the pack.
Colin Clark: Thank you, sir.
Sir Laurence Olivier: There won't be a film unless Miss Monroe gets her *splendid* posterior out of bed.
-
Hugh Perceval: The House Committee is threatening to withhold Miller's passport. They say he's a Communist. No Arthur. No Marilyn.
Sir Laurence Olivier: I'll have a word with the American Ambassador. I'm taking him to see Vivian's play on Thursday.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: It's only a readthrough, Paula.
Paula Strasberg: Marilyn has to begin finding the character.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Oh, the character is on the page.
Paula Strasberg: The words, maybe. Not the character.
-
David Orton: I suppose I might be able to do something for you. The Union owes me a few favors. We don't have a third yet.
Colin Clark: A third?
David Orton: Third Assistant Director! You do know what the job is?
Colin Clark: Assisting the director?
David Orton: That's the last thing you do! Lesson One. The Third's job is to do whatever the fuck I tell him.
-
Lucy: Look, I have two rules.
Colin Clark: Everyone has a lot of rules around here.
Lucy: One, never touch the talent, and two, never go out with thirds.
Colin Clark: Why not?
Lucy: Because they're all randy little buggers who just want some fun during shooting.
-
Dame Sybil Thorndike: How exciting! Don't you love the first day of a new production?
Colin Clark: I don't know, Dame Sybil. I've never had one before.
Dame Sybil Thorndike: Oh, to be young again!
-
Milton Greene: Listen Larry, accept Marilyn on her own terms and you'll be okay. Try to change her and she will drive you crazy. Trust me.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Dear Christ, what have I got myself into?
-
Dame Sybil Thorndike: I was on the picket lines in 1926, you know. And that really was a strike. We were all Bolsheviks then!
-
Lucy: [Colin starts to unbutton her blouse] Wait a while, crocodile.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: She should be on time, like everyone else.
Milton Greene: She's a star.
Sir Laurence Olivier: I'm a fucking star.
Arthur Jacobs: She's the greatest piece of ass on earth with tits like that - you make allowances.
-
Dame Sybil Thorndike: This poor girl hasn't had your years of experience. She's in a strange country, acting a strange part. Now, are you helping or bullying?
-
Milton Greene: When Marilyn gets it right you just don't want to look at anyone else.
-
Marilyn Monroe: I can't do this. I can't.
Paula Strasberg: Yes you can. Yes you can. You can do it. You can't fail. You will have more pain and you will suffer more but you will create. All you need is time. Think about the things you like, instead of him. Frank Sinatra. Coca Cola. Use your substitutions and make it work for you.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: Why not simply rely on your natural talents?
Marilyn Monroe: So then are you saying you don't want me to act?
Sir Laurence Olivier: Marilyn, will you just try to be sexy. Isn't that what you do?
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: Christ! Pills to sleep, pills to wake up. Pills to calm her down, pills to give her energy. No wonder she's permanently ten feet underwater.
Colin Clark: Maybe she's scared.
Sir Laurence Olivier: We're all scared. I spent half of my professional life in abject bloody terror! It's what actors do!
Colin Clark: But you have the training to deal with it.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Oh, I wouldn't buy the little girl lost act if I were you. Though heaven knows it's tempting.
-
Roger Smith: Marilyn's okay. She's taken some pills and gone to bed. They like to keep her doped up. It makes her easier to control. They're terrified their cash cow will slip away.
-
Arthur Miller: I can't work. I can't think. She's devouring me.
-
Vivien Leigh: Larry tells me you are quite, quite superb. I am wild with jealousy.
Marilyn Monroe: But everyone says you were a wonderful Elsie on stage.
Vivien Leigh: Oh, but I'm too old to play her in the film. Larry was quite brutal about that. You see, the truth is all that matters to him. And that's why we all admire him so very much.
-
Vivien Leigh: I didn't think she would be so beautiful. Oh, she *shines* on that screen.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Oh, darling. Puss, don't upset yourself. You are ten times the actress she will ever be.
Vivien Leigh: Oh, if you could see yourself. The way you watch her.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Oh, poor thing, you're imagining things.
Vivien Leigh: I hope she makes your life hell.
-
Milton Greene: You don't leave Marilyn alone. She can't handle it. She thinks everyone's going to abandon her.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: What is Marilyn doing on the phone with my Third *fucking* Assistant?
-
Marilyn Monroe: Why is Sir Olivier so mean? He talks awful to me - like he's slumming.
Colin Clark: I'll tell you what's wrong. It's agony for him because he is a great actor who wants to be a film star, and agony for you because you're a film star who wants to be a great actress. And this film won't help either of you.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Are you sure you can handle that? You don't look old enough to drink.
Colin Clark: I'm 23, Miss Monroe.
Marilyn Monroe: Oh, it's Marilyn. I'm 30. I guess that makes me an old lady to you.
Colin Clark: Seven years is nothing.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Oh, I didn't know it was so pretty out here.
Colin Clark: You should get out more. You should see the sights.
Marilyn Monroe: Oh, I am the sights.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Every time I walk into the studio I feel this sense of doom come over me. He gives me the dirtiest looks, even when he's smiling.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: I don't care if he *fucks* her sideways. Perhaps it will calm her down.
-
Colin Clark: She just wants a chum, that's all.
Milton Greene: A chum? Jesus Christ, what is this, "Goodbye Mr. Chips"? Grow up, kid.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: I thought working with Marilyn would make me feel young again. But I look dead in the rushes. Dead behind the eyes. I wanted to renew myself through her but all I see reflected in that magnificent face is my own inadequacy. You know, I admire Marilyn. I really do. Despite her behavior. She has taken everything Hollywood can throw at her and triumphed. That takes some bloody guts. An actress has to be pretty tough to get even a tenth as far as she has.
-
Colin Clark: We have today, anyway. We have one day to do whatever you like. We can go back to real life tomorrow.
Marilyn Monroe: Only one day?
Colin Clark: Well, maybe the weekend.
Marilyn Monroe: Or, a week!
-
Sir Owen Morshead: These are by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Marilyn Monroe: Oh, didn't he paint that lady with the funny smile?
Sir Owen Morshead: The Mona Lisa.
Marilyn Monroe: Do you have that one here too?
Sir Owen Morshead: Alas, that one got away.
-
Sir Owen Morshead: The Queen is sorry to have missed you.
Marilyn Monroe: Really?
Sir Owen Morshead: Oh, yes. Why, she was only saying to me the other day, "what must it be like to be the most famous woman on earth"?
-
Spectator: [Marilyn strikes a pose] Are you somebody, mate?
Colin Clark: No. I'm no one.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Alright, boys. Work hard. I don't want anyone whipping you.
Schoolboy #2: You can whip me anytime, Marilyn.
Marilyn Monroe: Ooooo!
-
Marilyn Monroe: That's the first time I've kissed anyone younger than me. There's a lot of older guys in Hollywood.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Don't be shy, Colin. It's nothing you haven't seen before.
-
Roger Smith: Be careful not to get in too deep, son.
-
Marilyn Monroe: Do you love me, Colin?
Colin Clark: Yes. You're like some Greek goddess to me.
Marilyn Monroe: I'm not a goddess. I just want to be loved like a regular girl.
-
Marilyn Monroe: [singing in the bathtub] Light of heart and fancy free, That's the way to start, There will be nothing to lose, 'Til you lose your heart.
-
Marilyn Monroe: [singing] I found a dream, Laying in your arms, The whole night through, I'm yours...
-
Marilyn Monroe: I hope you will all forgive me. It wasn't all together my fault. I've been ill. I'd like you to remember I tried.
-
Sir Laurence Olivier: I tried my best to change her, but she remains brilliant despite me.
-
Colin Clark: I booked a room.
Barry: Alright. Here we are. Sign this. What brings you up this way?
Colin Clark: I'm working on a film with Pinewood.
Barry: Oh, what film's that?
Colin Clark: It's called, "The Sleeping Prince" with Sir Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe. So, I'll be working with them.
Barry: Room: three quid a week. First week in advance. Number two. And, if you don't mind, you'll be sharing with Grace Kelly.
My Week with Marilyn Quotes
Extended Reading
Director: Simon Curtis
Language: English,French Release date: December 23, 2011