My Week With Marilyn to Have World Premiere at NY Film Festival

Michelle Williams fans rejoice: Word just over the Movieline transom has announced My Week With Marilyn, the tale of one young man’s brush with Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier and Arthur Miller in the summer of 1956, as the Centerpiece selection of this year’s New York Film Festival. Williams plays the iconic siren in director Simon Curtis’s film, joined by Eddie Redmayne in the lead as young Colin Clark and Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence. “After seeing Marilyn Monroe so often portrayed in films as a caricature, it is a pleasure to see this complex personality and unique on-screen presence portrayed so well by such a talented actress as Michelle Williams,” said festival chief Richard Pea in a statement; the Film Society of Lincoln Center has slated the premiere for Sunday, Oct. 9 (The Weinstein Company will release My Week With Marilyn on Nov. 4), and general tickets go on sale Sept. 12. A handful of other programming notes accompanied the announcement, including a special screening of a restored Ben-Hur and a massive retrospective celebrating the 100th anniversary of Japanese studio Nikkatsu Films. Full details below, and expect much more to come at Movieline as the 49th NYFF approaches this fall… =============== New York, NY, August 4, 2011 — The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that Simon Curtis’ MY WEEK WITH MARILYN will make its World Premiere as the Centerpiece Gala selection, screening at Alice Tully Hall on Sunday, October 9 for the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival (September 30 - October 16). “After seeing Marilyn Monroe so often portrayed in films as a caricature, it is a pleasure to see this complex personality and unique on-screen presence portrayed so well by such a talented actress as Michelle Williams,” says Richard Pea, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Based on Colin Clark’s diaries, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, is set in the early summer of 1956, when a 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. It was the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott). Nearly 40 years on, Clark’s diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing - which was published some years later as My Week with Marilyn. This is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Clark to introduce Monroe to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe who was desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work. Produced by David Parfitt, the Weinstein Company release also stars Dominic Cooper, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond, Zoe Wanamaker, Emma Watson, Toby Jones, Philip Jackson, Geraldine Somerville, Derek Jacobi and Simon Russell Beale. The film is set for a November 4 release. NYFF will also feature an exciting lineup of Masterworks presentations including a special screening of an 8K Digital restored version of William Wyler’s sword and sandals epic BEN-HUR (1959), Nicholas Ray’s WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN (1973) and an ambitious celebration of the upcoming 100th Anniversary of Japan’s Nikkatsu Films featuring screenings of 36 films including classics such as Kon Ichikawa’s THE BURMESE HARP (1956), Masahiro Makino’s SINGING LOVE BIRDS (1936), Ko Nakahira’s CRAZED FRUIT (1956), Shohei Imamura’s PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS (1961) and Seijun Suzuki’s TOKYO DRIFTER (1966). The screening of the recently restored version of Wyler’s classic BEN-HUR will show off the epic starring Charlton Heston and arguably the greatest chariot race put on film via an 8K Digital print which returns the film back to its original aspect ratio. Ray’s seldom seen experimental film WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN was originally made in collaboration with the late director’s film students and was the subject of subsequent editing by Ray before his death in 1979. Ray’s widow supervised the restoration of the “multi-narrative” film, bordering between film and visual arts, which was conceived as a teaching tool - instructing filmmaking through practice versus theory. Founded upon the consolidation of several production companies and theater chains, Nikkatsu Corporation has enjoyed a rich history of film production and distribution since 1912. Since that time, notable directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa, Shozo Makino and his son Masahiro Makino, Ko Nakahira, Shohei Imamura and Seijun Suzuki have made films under the Nikkatsu banner. During World War 2, Nikkatsu was forcibly combined with several other Japanese studios to form a large, government-influenced studio, but in 1954 the company resumed production under its own control. Searching for its own niche in the booming postwar Japanese film industry, Nikkatsu moved into the youth market with its stirring screen adaptation of Shintaro Ishihara’s SEASON OF THE SUN. An enormous success, Nikkatsu quickly followed up with a wave of similar works oriented for the youth market. As the vogue for these youth films began to wane in the early 60s, Nikkatsu launched a series of hard-boiled action films that remain perhaps the company’s best known period internationally. Led by such action stars as Shishedo Joe, Yujiro Ishihara and Hideaki Nitani, Nikkatsu action introduced a new kind of protagonist, often cynical and at odds with a society revealed to be totally corrupt. Influenced by American B movies, Nikkatsu action would itself be a key influence on the Hong Kong gunplay films years later. With aging action stars and a public looking for something new, Nikkatsu in the 70s created “Roman Porno,” romantic pornography, a series of soft-core erotic films that featured real (if often bizarre) plots and actors. The constant shift in production enabled Nikkatsu to stay profitable while other Japanese studios were either closing or switching to television. Yet by the 90s, Nikkkatsu was itself forced to declare bankruptcy and re-organize. Despite changes in ownership since then, Nikkatsu has remained continuously in production, branching out into new genre such as horror, martial arts and even family drama. As it approaches its centenary, Nikkatsu’s motto “We Make Fun Films” remains as true today as it was in its golden era. A new generation of filmgoers are discovering its classic films and filmmakers, inspiring not only the re-release of films from their catalogue but the production of remakes as well. Organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with Nikkatsu Corporation, the Japan Foundation and the National Film Center of Japan, this Centenary Celebration of Nikkatsu will be screened later this year at the Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, France, as well as at the Cinematheque Franaise. Nikkatsu 100th Anniversary Retrospective Lineup AKANISHI KAKITA (1936) 77min Director: Mansaku Itami THE BURMESE HARP (Biruma no Tategoto) (1956) 115min Director: Kon Ichikawa CHARISMA (Karisuma) (1999) 103min Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa COLD FISH (Tsumetai Nettaigyo) (2010) 144min Director: Sion Sono A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (Colt ha Oreno Passport) (1967) 85min Director: Takashi Nomura CRAZED FRUIT (Kurutta Kajitsu) (1956) 86min Director: Ko Nakahira DANCER IN IZU (Izo no Odoriko) (1963) 87min Director: Katsumi Nisikawa A DIARY OF CHUJI’S TRAVELS (Chiji Tabi Nikki: Part 1 and Part 2) (1927) 107min Director: Daisuke Ito EARTH (1939) 92min Director: Tomu Uchida GATE OF FLESH (Nikutai no Mon) (1964) 90min Director: Seijun Suzuki THE HELL-FATED COURTESAN (Maruhi: Joro Seme Jigoku) (1973) 77min Director: Noboru Tanaka HOMETOWN 86min Director: Kenji Mizoguchi I LOOK UP WHEN I WALK (aka KEEP YOUR CHIN UP) (Uewo Muite Arukou) (1962) 91min Director: Toshio Masuda INTENTIONS OF MURDER (Akai Satsui) (1964) 150min Director: Shohei Imamura INTIMIDATION (Aru Kyohaku) (1960) 65min Director: Koreyosji Kurahara LOVE HOTEL (1985) 88min Director: Shinji Somae MADE TO ORDER CLOTH (aka JIROKICHI THE RAT) (Oatsurae Jirokichi Koshi) (1931) 70min Director: Daisuke Ito **Screening with: JIRAIYA THE NINJA (Goketsu Jiraiya) (1921) 30min Director: Shozo Makino MUD AND SOLDIERS (Tsuchi to Heitai) (1936) 120min Director: Tomotaka Tasaka THE OLDEST PROFESSION (Maruhi: Shikiyo Mesu Ichiba) (1974) 83min Director: Noboru Tanaka PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS (Buta to Gunkan) (1961) 108min Director: Shohei Imamura A POT WORTH A MILLION RYO (Tange Sazen Hyakuman Ryou no Tsubo) (1935) 92min Director: Sadao Yamanaka RETALIATION (Shima ha Moratta) (1967) 94min Director: Yasuharu Hasebe RUSTY KNIFE (Sabita Knife) (1958) 90min Director: Toshio Masuda SEASON OF THE SUN (Taiyo no Kisetsu) (1956) 89min Director: Takumi Furukawa SINGING LOVE BIRDS (Oshidori Uta Gassen) (1936) 69min Director: Masahiro Makino STRAY CAT ROCK: SEX HUNTER (Noraneko Rock: Sex Hunter) (1970) 86min Director: Yasuharu Hasebe SUN IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE SHOGUNATE (aka Shinagawa Path) (Bakumatsu Taiyoden) (1957) 110min Director: Yuzo Kawashima SUZUKI PARADISE: RED LIGHT (Suzuki Paradise: Aka Shingo) (1956) 81min Director: Yuzo Kawashima TAKE AIM AT THE POLICE VAN Jusango Taihisen Yori: Sono Gososha wo Nerae) (1960) 79min Director: Seijun Suzuki THE TATTOOED FLOWER VASE (Kashinno Irezumi: Ureta Tsubo) (1979) 74min Director: Masaru Konuma TEN NIGHTS OF DREAMS (Yume Juya) (2007) 110min Director: Various TILL WE MEET AGAIN (Ashita Kuru Hito) (1955) 115min Director: Yuzo Kawashima TOKYO DRIFTER (Tokyo Nagaremono) (1966) 83min Director: Seijun Suzuki THE WARPED ONES (1960) 108min Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara THE WOMAN WITH RED HAIR (Akai Kami no Onna) (1979) 73min Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro A WORLD OF GEISHA (Yojyohan Fusuma no Urabari) (1973) 77min Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro ###