Lifetime Has Found Its Marilyn Monroe In Kelli Garner

Lifetime has named its Marilyn Monroe! The network has announced the casting of Kelli Garner as Hollywood’s legendary blonde bombshell. Garner will play Marilyn in the network’s upcoming miniseries simply called Marilyn.

The miniseries will be four hours long and is based on the the book, The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli’s. The miniseries will explore Marilyn’s family life and long kept secrets, reports US Magazine.

Lifetime states that the Marilyn miniseries will reveal “what the iconic superstar succeeded in hiding from an all-too-invasive world.”

Marilyn’s mother, Gladys, who was mentally ill, will be played by Susan Sarandon.

“Marilyn is both the personification of sex, whose first marriage ironically collapses because of her frigidity, and a fragile artist who seeks the approval and protection of men. But after tumultuous marriages with Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, she realizes she has the strength to stand on her own. She becomes the face and voice of an era, yet wants most of all to be someone’s mother and someone’s little girl. She’s the Marilyn you haven’t seen before, the artist who, by masking the truth with an image, gives her greatest performance,” Lifetime released in a statement.

Garner, who is 30, is best known for playing Kate on the series Pan Am.

Marilyn won’t be Garner’s first time filming in Canada. She was previously in Montreal for The Aviator, Ontario for Lars and the Real Girl, and Vancouver for Horns, reports Globalnews.com.

Garner broke up with long time boyfriend Johnny Galecki of Big Bang Theory fame back in August. The couple had been together for over two years.

Garner follows in the footsteps of several others who have played Marilyn including Uma Thurman, Megan Hilty, Katherine McPhee, Charlotte Sullivan, Constance Forslund and Suzie Kennedy.

Marilyn died at 36 in 1962. The theories about her death have never faded away. She became a major sex symbol and starred in a number of successful films in the 1950’s and early 1960’s.

Shooting is scheduled to take place from early December until mid-February. Any additional production will be done in Los Angeles.

The script was written by Stephen Kronish and Laurie Collyer will direct. Jonathan Koch will executive produce with Asylum Entertainment. Kronish and Keri Seli will also executive produce.

Garner has definitely landed the role of a lifetime! Marilyn is slated to air in 2015.