Naomi Watts to go Blonde with Wild Bunch, Andrew Dominik

Wild Bunch will handle international sales on Blonde, an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ imaginary Marilyn Monroe memoir that Andrew Dominik is set to direct. Naomi Watts will star as the legendary icon.

Produced by Anthony Bregman, the $20 million film will shoot in January 2011.

Dominik, who last directed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, explains his desire to make Blonde: “Why is Marilyn Monroe the great female icon of the 20th Century? For men she is an object of sexual desire that is desperately in need of rescue. For women, she embodies all the injustices visited upon the feminine, a sister, a Cinderella, consigned to live among the ashes.”

He added, “I want to tell the story of Norma Jean as a central figure in a fairytale; an orphan child lost in the woods of Hollywood, being consumed by that great icon of the twentieth century.”

Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval told Screen, “We are delighted to finally be working with Andrew Dominik who is one of the most talented young directors in world cinema today. We trust his vision to deliver us a Marilyn biopic which will not be a classic one but a modern Raging Bull which will explore one of the most iconic figures of this century. Whilst the tabloid press has grown in popularity by taking advantage of such tragedies, we at Wild Bunch are seduced by the humanity, the emotion and the tragic destiny of such a powerful character.”