The New Marilyn

From ruby lipstick application to shimmering backstage solitude, Michelle Williams’s transformation into the world’s most iconic sex symbol is intimately documented in this personal project by Brigitte Lacombe. “Michelle was as close as you can get to becoming Marilyn; aware of my presence, but really in Marilyn 's world,” says the noted photographer, who has worked on the movies of Martin Scorsese, Spike Jonze and Quentin Tarantino. Lacombe flew to London at Williams’s invitation, for a dressing room portraiture session with the Oscar nominee just after the wrapping of the Simon Curtis-directed drama. The plot follows the bombshell’s troubled relationship with co-star and director Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) while filming The Prince and the Showgirl on her honeymoon with playwright Arthur Miller. It hinges on Monroe’s unexpected kinship with Olivier’s third assistant, Oxford graduate Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), whose memoir forms the basis of the story. “I was there for the very last scene on the very last night of filming, in this tiny pub just outside of London,” says Lacombe. “It was very intense and taut, [the crew was] almost delirious with fatigue—it was a smokey, crowded and elated atmosphere.”