Lifetime will need to change its name to the Dead Celebrity Movie Network, especially if an ambitious miniseries about the life of Marilyn Monroe happens. The project will be based on The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli and is being produced by Asylum Entertainment.
It appears that this project is in the very early stages. Deadline is reporting that it might be just a single made-for-TV movie, but The Hollywood Reporter refers to the project as a miniseries. The book is 576 pages log, so there’s plenty of material if Asylum and Lifetime go the miniseries route.
Stephen Kronish, who wrote Reelz Channel’s The Kennedys, is working on the script. Of course, Asylum also produced The Kennedys, as well as the Lifetime June Carter Cash movie Ring of Fire.
The executive producers are Jonathan Koch and Steven Michaels of Asylum, along with Keri Selig and Kronish. Laurie Collyer is directing.
Monroe has been the subject of several Hollywood productions, including My Week With Marilyn, which earned Michelle Williams an Oscar nomination as Monroe. Andrew Dominik is also working on Blonde, which will star Jessica Chastain and is set to come out next year.
Lifetime recently aired a movie about Anna Nicole Smith and is working on Aaliya and Whitney Houston biopics for this fall. Elizabeth Taylor also got a Lifetime movie with Lindsay Lohan.