Jessica Chastain turns Blonde for the next Marilyn Monroe biopic

Jessica Chastain has been somewhat of an enigma in Hollywood. With a name resembling royalty and glamour; Chastain has bagged some enviable roles in her career and has given brilliant performances to match and now her name is being attached to the next biopic, titled Blonde, on one of Hollywood’s most legendary stars that filmmakers cannot stop being obsessed with, Marilyn Monroe.

The film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel by Joyce Carol Oates, is going to be different from the other films recently produced about Marilyn. Blonde is said to be focused on the inner, spiritual and emotional life of the star that has captivated the world for generations, along with her aura of beauty and glamour that was tinged with depression and strife.

Oates's 700-page novel, published in 2000, accounts many of Marilyn's infamous relationships, including one with United States president John F. Kennedy. Many of her alleged lovers haven’t been named, but they are clearly identified by the nicknames given to them by Marilyn and the context in which she talks about them. A male co-star from Some Like It Hot is labelled "C", who can be presumed to be Tony Curtis while Marilyn's husbands, Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, feature as "the ex-Athlete" and "the Playwright" respectively. It’s no wonder Marilyn is famous for her illustrious and tumultuous affairs.

It’s going to be pleasant to see Chastain as a blonde once again, ditching her natural red hair. She also played a blonde as a ditzy but spirited woman in the period drama The Help, for which she received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination in 2011. Her other Academy Award nomination was for 2012's Zero Dark Thirty. Chastain has been particularly busy lately. She will star in a number of movies this year, including Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi mystery Interstellar with Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey, as well as Miss Julie - based on the 1888 play - with Samantha Morton and Colin Farrell. She is also currently filming Guillermo del Toro's horror Crimson Peake.

Blonde will be produced by Brad Pitt's production company Plan B, with the actor reportedly having been key in convincing Chastain to take the role. The two had worked together on Terrence Malik’s The Tree of Life in 2011, for which Chastain also received critical acclaim. Blonde is set to be directed by Andrew Dominik, known for his work on The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Killing Them Softly, having cast Pitt in both films, and will also forge the film from his own script.

The film was first reported for making back in 2010 and has been an infatuation project for Dominik. Chastain having been cast was a move to ensure that Marilyn is channelled as a lost and lonely movie star trapped inside a world of glamour and frivolity of her own volition. Judging from Chastain’s and Dominik’s previous work, Blonde might just be a step up from the other Marilyn biopics that Hollywood has turned out in recent years. Shooting for the film is set to start in August this year with a release in 2015.

The next Steve Jobs biopic

Leonardo DiCaprio has become a movie star god in the recent years, having delivered an array of blockbuster and brilliant performances in films like Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street. But, to the dismay of cinema-lovers everywhere, he is yet to win that coveted and much-deserved Academy Award for his work.

But the possibility of Leonardo playing Steve Jobs in the latest biopic about the Apple Inc. co-founder could very well put him in the running for his work finally being recognized. Although the film has not begun shooting yet, if he is in the cast, there’s no doubt Leonardo will turn out a mesmerizing performance as usual. In the last 13 months alone, he's been associated with nine films. 

The last film revolving around the life of Steve Jobs was released last year, titled Jobs, directed by Joshua Michael Stern and starring Ashton Kutcher and Dermot Mulroney. The film wasn’t a major success or even critically acclaimed. The latest biopic with Leonardo possibly (and hopefully) in the role of Jobs will be directed by ace-filmmaker Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) after he took over from David Fincher who reportedly wanted Christian Bale in the lead. Boyle also won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire, which became a worldwide phenomenon.

Aaron Sorkin, who won the Oscar for Best Writing for an adapted screenplay for The Social Network, will be penning the script for the film, roughly entitled “Steve Jobs”, based on the Walter Isaacson biography of the same name. Sony acquired the rights to the biography following the Apple mogul’s death in 2011.

If Leonardo is cast in this role, it will be the first time in almost 14 years that he will be working with Boyle, after they collaborated on The Beach in 2000. A release date has not been announced for the film yet but we will definitely be waiting with baited breath, if Leonardo is cast, for another captivating performance. And it would be a mistake not to cast him, because it seems as if everything he touches turns to gold at the box office.