Lifetime developing Marilyn Monroe miniseries

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lifetime cable network is developing Marilyn, a miniseries based on J. Randy Taraborrelli's book The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

24 and The Kennedys' Stephen Kronish is on board to pen the mini, with Sherrybaby's Laurie Collyer attached to direct the Marilyn Monroe entry. The entry hails from Asylum Entertainment, the production company behind Lifetime's June Carter Cash biopic Ring of Fire as well as Reelz Channel's ratings hit The Kennedys.

Asylum's Jonathan Koch and Steven Michaels will exec produce alongside Kronish and Keri Selig. Selig was attached to exec produce Reelz's Kennedys follow-up, After Camelot, which, like Marilyn, was based on a book by Taraborrelli.

Taraborrelli's book is considered the most definitive Monroe biography. Published in 2010, the title explored the actress/pin-up girl's relationship with her mentally ill mother, her foster mother and her legal guardian as well as Monroe's own mental illness and her relationships with her family and the Kennedys.

The project comes 52 years after Monroe's death and as Jessica Chastain is circling a role as the bombshell in New Regency's 2015 feature Blonde. Michelle Williams also earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Monroe in 2011's My Week With Marilyn. Charlotte Sullivan also portrayed Monroe in Reelz's The Kennedys. NBC's Smash also featured a play within the series based on Monroe's troubled life.

For Lifetime, the mini comes as the cabler has been exploring the lives of some of pop culture's biggest names, including Aaliyah, Whitney Houston, Elizabeth Taylor and Olympian Gabby Douglas, among others.