I can really relate to Marilyn Monroe says Emma Watson

Speaking at the London premiere of My Week With Marilyn last night, Watson, 21, who plays wardrobe assistant Lucy in the film, said: “I certainly feel a lot for her and for what she went through.

“I think she was just trying to find her feet in the midst of this kind of crazy circus that went on around her, and trying to find some sort of balance and some sort of normality in her life, and I can definitely relate to that.”

The film, directed by Simon Curtis, stars Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe when she comes to Pinewood Studios in 1956 to star alongside Laurence Olivier in The Prince and The Showgirl.

Eddie Redmayne plays 23-year-old Colin Clark, whose real-life memoirs The Prince, The Showgirl and Me formed the basis for the film. Clark’s first job in the movie business was working as a “third assistant director”. Monroe, hounded by paparazzi and nervous about working with Olivier, turns to Clark for solace.

Redmayne said: “It’s the stuff that dreams are made of. She is an icon. What makes people fall in love with her is her complexity and the conflict of how she was projected in the world and what people thought of her versus perhaps her intimate life.

“I can absolutely see how a huge star, would be going through chaos in their lives, and seek solace in someone with a sense of normality.”

Kenneth Branagh, who plays Olivier, said: “It was very exciting but you felt a sense of responsibility, which both Michelle and I felt for these characters. You read everything that they wrote about this experience and Sir Laurence Olivier was very candid about his immense frustration working with Marilyn Monroe.”

Branagh said he listened to Olivier reading the Bible every day at 6am to prepare for the role.