Dame Sibyl: A great actress like you has many other things on her mind.
Marilyn: You think I am a great actress?
Dame Sibyl: None of the rest of us truly know how to act for the camera. but you do. it's a rare gift.
2.
Paula: the reason Marilyn can't remember the line is because she doesn't believe the situation her character is in.
Laurence Olivier: then she should pretend to believe it.
Paula: Pretend? We are talking about the difference between the truth and artificial crap.
LO: We are in absolute agreement. Acting is all about truth. and if you can fake that, you'll have a jolly good career.
3.
LO: Marilyn, please, please, tell me how I can help you.
Marilyn: I don't know who Elsie is and I can't act her if I don't know who she is.
LO: You have her precisely. You understand her inside out. I'm in awe of your gift. We all are.
Marilyn: She is not real.
LO: Then why not simply rely on your natural talents?
Marilyn: so you're saying you don't want me to act?
LO: Marilyn, will you just try to be sexy? isn't that what you do?
Marilyn: I want Lee!
4.
LO: Oh, now forever, farewell the tranquil mind, farewell content, farewell the plumed troops and the big wars that make ambition virtue. Oh, farewell! (OTHELLO ) Paula is not an actress. She is not a director, she is not a teacher. Her only talent is buttering up Marilyn!
XX: Larry, she needs her people. We're the only family she's ever had.
LO: DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD MAKE MARILYN MONROE A REAL ACTOR? A SEASON IN REP. THEY WOULDN'T STAND FOR THIS NONSENSE AT THE HIPPODROME IN EASTBOURNE.
XX: Larry, you have to be patient with her.
LO: Trying to teach Marilyn how to act is like teaching Urdu to a badger!
XX: I better go see her. She'll need something to help her calm down.
LO: 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: Maybe she's scared.
LO: We're all scared! I've spent half of my professional life in objective bloody terror! IT'S WHAT ACTORS DO!
Colin: but you have the training to deal with it,sir.
LO: I wouldn't buy the "little girl lost" act if I were you. Though heaven knows, it's tempting. I think Marilyn knows exactly what she's doing. Look, you better get over to Parkside and make sure the poor girl's all right.
5.
Vivien Leigh: Marilyn, darling! Larry tells me that you are quite quite superb. I am wild with jealousy.
Marilyn: But everyone says you were a wonderful Elsie on stage.
VL: Oh but I am too old to play her in the film. Larry was quite brutal about that. You see the truth is all that matters to him. That's why we all admire him so very much. I must let you work. I just wanted to wish you good luck.
6.
Marilyn: Why is Sir Olivier so mean? He talks awful to me. like he's slumming.
Colin: 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 it's agony for you, because you are a film star who wants to be a great actress. And this film won't help either of you.
7.
Marilyn: What would Sir Lawrence say if he could see us now?
Colin: I don't think he'd mind.
Marilyn: But he thinks that I'm the enemy.
Colin: nah, he doesn't understand your kind of actor. He's hated the Method ever since Vivien worked with Elia Kazan. It's all too strange and new. You are the future that frightens him.
Marilyn: you know what? every time I walk into the studio, I feel a sense of doom come over me. He gives me the dirtiest look even when he's smiling. and the crew hates me.
8.
LO: You know, I thought working with Marilun would make me feel young again. But I look dead in the rushes. Dead behind these eyes. I wanted to renew myself through her. But all I see reflected in taht magnificent face is my own inadequacy. You know, I admire Marilyn. I really do, despite her behavior. She's taken everything Hollywood can throw at her and she's triumphed. That takes some bloody guts. An actress has to be pretty tough to get even a tenth as far as she has. But be careful boy. She doesn't need to be rescued. Not really.
9.
LO: She's quite wonderful. No training, no craft to speak of. No guile, just pure instinct. She's astonishing.
Colin: You should tell her that.
LO: Oh i will. But she won't believe me. It's probably what makes her great. It's almost certainly what makes her so profoundly unhappy. I tried my best to change her. but she remains brilliant, despite me
. Some are really uninteresting. It's the equivalent of a well-written Mary Suvin, but good style doesn't make it less interesting.
The slightly more interesting part is Lawrence Olivier's attitude towards Marilyn Monroe and his views on...acting. I have all quoted on it.
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