Michelle Williams Clinches Spirit Award For Marilyn Monroe Portrayal

Michelle Williams has clinched the best female lead award at the Spirit Awards for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn.

Williams, who attracted effusive praise from critics for her portrayal of the legendary blonde bombshell, told reporters backstage: “My friend said, ‘You’re like the Susan Lucci of the Independent Spirit Awards.”

Apparently, she also turned heads on the red purple carpet. Us Weekly reports:

Michelle Williams is usually known for her modest red carpet style, but the My Week With Marilyn star sexed things up at the 27th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. Saturday. Wearing a suit from Louis Vuitton’s pre-fall 2012 collection, the blonde actress, 31, showed off her pin-thin legs in short shorts. She accessorized with an Olympia Le-Tan “Catcher in the Rye” embroidered clutch.

There were some pretty big-name winners at the Spirits this year, including Jean Dujardin as best male lead in The Artist. The Artist also scooped best film – with its $15 million budget, the French silent movie came in just beneath the $20 million maximum budget allowed for all Spirits nominees.

Previous winners of the best film gong have included Lost in Translation, Juno, Black Swan, Brokeback Mountain and, going even further back, Pulp Fiction, a film that was robbed of an Oscar by the treacly Forrest Gump.

The Independent Spirit Awards were founded in 1984, and are dedicated to recognizing independent filmmakers. Winners are typically presented with statuettes that include suspended shoestrings, a nod to the tiny budgets of independent films.