It stars Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, and Judi Dench.

Based on two books by Colin Clark, it depicts the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl, which starred Marilyn Monroe (Williams) and Laurence Olivier (Branagh).

Following his graduation from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1956, aspiring filmmaker Colin Clark travels to London to gain a job on Laurence Olivier's next production.

[6] Adrian Hodges, who wrote the screenplay, told David Gritten of The Daily Telegraph: "If you'd said to me one day I'd write a film about her, I'd have been amazed, because I wouldn't have known where to start.

[8] Weinstein told Michael Hogan of The Huffington Post that he had read the books for fun, but had not then considered them for adaptation into a film.

[6] Williams told Adam Green of Vogue that the notion of portraying Monroe was daunting, but as she finished reading the script, she knew she wanted the role.

[14] Kenneth Branagh began talks with producers for the role of Laurence Olivier in July 2010 after Ralph Fiennes had to drop out to direct his adaptation of Coriolanus.

[19] But Zeta-Jones turned down the role as she did not want to spend more than a week away from her husband Michael Douglas, who was being treated for throat cancer at the time.

[25] Three days later, White Waltham Airfield was turned into a 1950s London Heathrow Airport to recreate the moment when Monroe arrived in England to begin production on The Prince and the Showgirl.

[29] British Cinematographer reported the production had filmed scenes at Saltwood Castle, near Folkestone, where Clark grew up as a young boy.

[7] Cinematographer Ben Smithard said the creative and visual references in My Week with Marilyn came from stills of American photographer and painter, Saul Leiter.

[31] Taylor, who previously worked on Sliding Doors (1998) and Match Point (2005), created the costumes for the film in six weeks and she dressed the entire cast.

"[33] Taylor told Shardlow it was difficult to find fabrics that looked as "lush" as they did in the fifties and she had some challenging costumes to make, including a dress from The Prince and the Showgirl for Dench's character, Sybil Thorndike.

[33] The designer also said she had to make some adaptations to a suit worn by Ormond, as she is a completely different body shape to her character, Vivien Leigh.

"[31] The designer told Smith she was very pleased with how successful the white dress she had made for Williams during The Prince and the Showgirl scenes turned out.

[31] When asked if Williams had a favourite outfit, Taylor said the actress particularly enjoyed wearing a black dress and the skirt and shirt combination.

[36][37] Williams also features on the soundtrack singing "I Found a Dream", "That Old Black Magic" and a medley of "When Love Goes Wrong, Nothing Goes Right" and "Heat Wave".

[4] During this time period, an exclusive 7-minute director's cut of the Katy Perry music video, "The One That Got Away", was shown with select advanced screenings of the film for one night only on 11 November.

[57][58] On its first week of release in the US, the film entered at number six on the DVD Sales Chart, selling an estimated 172,748 DVDs making $2,589,493.

[64] Ray Suber of Box Office Mojo reported the film played at 123 locations on 23 and 24 November, before expanding to 244 cinemas for the Thanksgiving three-day weekend, where it placed in the Top 12 with $1.75 million.

"[70] Ronnie Scheib of Variety said My Week with Marilyn "flits uneasily between arch drawing-room comedy and foreshadowed tragedy" and is too stagily directed by Curtis, who lines up the characters with "no attention to spatial logic or rhythmic flow.

"[72] Adam Green of Vogue said the film does not quite reach "the high drama and urgency of a period piece like The King's Speech", but it does evoke a vanished era in filmmaking.

[12] Green added Williams is the main attraction and she brings Monroe to life "with heartbreaking delicacy and precision without resorting to impersonation or cliché.

While we have seen Michelle Williams tap dance and heard her sing before -- she was superb in last year's Blue Valentine -- her moves and voice as Marilyn evoke the subject's understated, magnetic performances.

[76] He said "One of the chief pleasures of My Week with Marilyn — which should not be approached as anything other than fluffy entertainment — is watching Williams bring to life Monroe's inner demons and her movie-star allure with equal aplomb.

"[78] Pols went on to say "Williams locates a central truth, the contradictory allure of this utterly impossible woman — mercurial, vain, foolish, but also intelligent in some very primal way and achingly vulnerable.

"[79] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times thought Branagh was miscast as Olivier, but she said he made up for that with "his crisp, at times clipped, enunciation and a physical performance that gives Olivier enough vitality so that when, early in, the character sweeps into his production office with his wife, Vivien Leigh (Julia Ormond, a wan placeholder for the original), he dazzles Clark and jolts this slow-stirring movie awake.

"[81] Empire magazine's Angie Errigo gave My Week with Marilyn three out of five stars and she said "At moments hilarious and others touching, it's a sweet, slight affair, more pretty pageant than pithy biographical drama.

That certainly applies to My Week with Marilyn, a dubious idea done in by Adrian Hodges's shallow script and Simon Curtis's clumsy direction.

[84] For her performances in My Week with Marilyn, Meek's Cutoff and Take This Waltz, Williams was given the Best Actress award at the 2011 Hollywood Film Festival.