Marilyn Monroe Coming to Life On Lifetime

J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe will be the basis of a Lifetime miniseries, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Taraborrelli tome is considered the definitive biography of Hollywood’s definitive sex symbol. The one problem the series may have is being loyal to the book and still being safe to show in primetime. The same producers who did the popular series The Kennedys–also based on a Taraborrelli book–will bring Marilyn to life and into your living room. (Or bedroom, if you prefer.)

To cast it they may look carefully at the great and dreadful Smash, NBC’s short-lived drama that centered on a dramatic stage rendition of Marilyn’s story. The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe will be yet another Marilyn story in a world already rich with them, but this one promises secrets and that special treatment only Lifetime can give a woman. Taraborrelli was particularly interested in the mental illness that apparently ran in Monroe’s family–and there will be treachery, of course.