↳ ♡︎ Film #28: Marilyn Monroe as Amanda Dell in Let’s Make Love (1960, dir. George Cukor).
Deemed by Marilyn herself as her worst role, she plays a stage actress who’s in a production about French billionaire, Jean-Marc Clement (Yves Montand), who finds himself playing the role of himself in the show while he attempts to seduce Amanda.
After Some Like It Hot, Marilyn still legally owed Fox three films. From the moment she read the script, she knew the role wasn’t for her, and felt a familiar anxious feeling with Fox handing her what she felt was another ditzy role.
The film was originally titled The Billionaire, was to star Marilyn and Gregory Peck for the lead, and George Cukor would direct it. While she was excited to work with them, her main concern was the script. She had her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, read it; he reacted, “It’s not worth the paper it’s typed on.” When Marilyn went back to Fox with these notes, they decided to hire Arthur to develop her role, because of this Peck stepped back and felt she now overshadowed him.
Eventually Montand was hired and despite all of the re-writes and the back and forth with Fox, she never felt the character was more than flat words on a piece of paper.
Throughout production, Marilyn’s habitual habit of being late continued to annoy crew and cast members as it had in the past, and most everyone sensed she was unhappy. By the time cameras began rolling, Marilyn was able to center herself and pull off an incredible performance, which impressed everyone involved, especially George Cukor.
Personally, her marriage to Arthur was hanging on by a thread; he was out of the state for long periods of time with pre-production work on The Misfits occupying his time. Yves Montand, with speaking very little English, was insecure and anxious about his role, he and Marilyn bonded very quickly. This bond led to a short affair between the two.
Shooting ended just around the time of her birthday, in June 1960. She did not attend the premiere and box office sales flopped. Not long before her death, she told biographer George Barris, with whom she was writing an autobiography with, “The worst part I had to play was Let's Make Love-I didn't even have a part. It was part of an old contract. I had nothing to say. The part of the girl was awful. You just had to rack your brain. There was nothing there, I mean script-wise.”
