Michelle Williams is a western feminist heroine, & Marilyn Monroe

Following her Oscar nomination for Blue Valentine, Michelle Williams ups her profile with two powerful new roles - first, she teams up with her Wendy & Lucy director, Kelly Reichart, to play stoic feminist heroine Emily Thetherow in Reichart's acclaimed intellectual & enigmatic western, Meek's Cutoff.


After that, she takes a stab at Hollywood History, and more Oscar glory, as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, which chronicles the infamous tension between Sir Laurence Olivier and Ms Monroe on the production of The Prince and the Showgirl. Kenneth Branagh plays Sir Laurence Olivier, appropriately enough; Branagh & Olivier share a passion for adapting Shakespeare, successfully, both behind & in front of the camera.

If anyone can nail Marilyn's externally superficiality & internally complexity, it's Williams.

Lastly, she stars with Seth Rogan & Sarah Silverman in Sarah Polley's bittersweet comedy / drama Take this Waltz. She plays Margot, a woman 'struggling to choose between two different kinds of love', whatever that means.

Be it as it may, Michelle Williams' star is rising.