Blonde

Behind the scenes

My connection with Marilyn began 20 years ago in 2002 when I played L.V. in the play, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. In that play I was tasked with recreating the voices of some of the greatest singers and performers of all time – Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday, Shirley Bassey, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. At the time, I didn’t spend too much time on Marilyn. I only had to perform two short snippets of “Happy Birthday” and “I Wanna Be Loved by You”. I had to perform full songs of the other divas and they stole most of my focus.

Fast forward to 2012 when I received an audition for an art installation called Marilyn by French artist, Philippe Parenno, who wanted to recreate Marilyn Monroe’s apartment at the Waldorf Astoria as a kind of séance. He used robots to bring her handwriting to life and he used me to invoke her voice – her spirit – eerily narrating the tour of her former apartment from the beyond. I spent two days in an East Village recording studio, meticulously imitating her natural speaking voice.

Fast forward again to 2019 when I received a phone call from Andrew Dominik, asking if I could sing like Marilyn Monroe. He was working on a movie about her and they needed to recreate the songs. He’d seen the Parenno piece. I’d never heard of him or the star of the movie, Ana de Armas. That would all soon change.

I spent the following weeks walking the streets of the Lower East Side with Marilyn’s songs on auto repeat. I eventually worked with Fiora Cutler, a gifted musician, coach and amazing human being. We holed up in my “home studio” – the walk-in closet in my daughter’s room – with dried mango from Trader Joe’s as fuel and my daughter’s stuffed animals cushioning the potential fall of the massive 1950’s vintage microphone Fiora rented. I sang to only click tracks (the wonderful orchestrations would come later) with Marilyn’s original vocals leading the way. Each song presented its own challenge. Her vowels, her placement, her breathiness were so unlike mine! I had to forget every technique I’d ever learned as a singer and surrender to her – her vulnerability, her softness. Sometimes I’d manage to align with her and it felt like magic. Fiora would tirelessly (and relentlessly) ask for take after take until she felt we’d gotten as close as we could. If I had my way, I’d still be working to perfect my version of those iconic performances. I hope I’ve honored the memory of her great talent and that my performance will go unnoticed for all the right reasons. It was a gift to work on this film and play a small role in bringing her back to life.

The Trailer

Take a look below at two of the official trailers for Blonde.