Two biopics on Monroe, Cousteau in 3D and Blige as Simone

(AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE)

Plans are taking shape on two different biographical films about the life of American film icon, Marilyn Monroe.

One story, My Week With Marilyn, will star Michelle Williams ( Brokeback Mountain), adapting a memoir about her week in London shooting the film The Prince and the Showgirl with Sir Laurence Olivier. The other film, Blonde, with Naomi Watts, adapts a faux memoir by Joyce Carol Oates.

A biopic about the pioneering French oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau will be shot in 3D. The script is adapted from Capitaine de la Calypso, a biography by Albert Falco, who worked with the sea explorer. The film, to be directed by Jerome Salles ( Largo Winch), will be an underwater adventure film.

R&B singer Mary J. Blige is set to star in Nina about the legendary singer Nina Simone, to be directed by television director Cynthia Mort based on her script. The film about the songwriter, pianist and civil rights activist will focus on her relationship with her assistant Clifton Henderson, to be played by David Oyelowo ( The Last King of Scotland).

RC