• Every Friday,

    “20 Minutes” invites a personality to comment on a social phenomenon in his 20 Minutes meeting with…

  • Since childhood, Séverine Ferrer has been fascinated by Marilyn Monroe, who disappeared sixty years ago.

  • The actress talks about her passion for the star and the piece she intends to devote to her soon.

On the night of August 4 to 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead at her home at the age of 36.

But it is not the mysteries around her death, sixty years ago, which fascinate the actress Séverine Ferrer but the personality of the one who was actually called Norma Jeane Baker.

This passion dates back to the childhood of the former host of

Fan De,

who plans to pay tribute to her on stage soon in

Night Lady,

a play she is currently refining with playwright Gilles Gressard.

By then, Séverine Ferrer will have participated in the

Fort en musique

festival in Auxelles, near Belfort, in August, taken over the show

Born in the 90’s

and participated in the promotion of

La Chose behind the door .

, a horror film by Fabrice Blin in which she stars.

How long have you been a Marilyn Monroe fan?

Ever since I was little and even before I saw her films, I was drawn to this woman, to her photos.

I told myself that she could have been my girlfriend, so much she shines on the pictures.

She had something sparkling that fixes the gaze.

She really had the aura of a star, although that's a word I don't like.

As soon as I was old enough to understand, I wanted to know more about her, discover things about her work and her personality.

I couldn't get used to the idea that she died so young.

It was incomprehensible to me.

And you weren't disappointed?

Quite the contrary!

She represents everything that I admire, because she could do everything: act, sing and dance.

I think she is a role model for many actresses like me.

She has a goddess side of the 7th Art for the way she managed her career.

I don't agree with people who say she was a bad actress.

She didn't always have fascinating roles to defend, but she interpreted them with an absolute sincerity that commands admiration.

She was a trendsetter.

She understood the inner workings of fame and how to make yourself known and play with your image.

Marilyn Monroe was an influencer before anyone else.

She controlled every last detail knowing full well that each of her costumes, poses and hairstyles were going to be imitated.

How do you explain her fall if she was so strong?

She succeeded in her professional life and failed in her personal life, which ended up reflecting on her career.

She clearly lacked emotional support at all stages of her life.

She had kept a "little girl" blue flower side that believed in love.

She was attracted by what shone but also by intellectuals because she constantly wanted to improve.

She lived a terrible childhood, totally unstable which made her feel a constant need to be desired, admired but above all respected which was not easy because men often saw her as a trophy, flattering their ego by her mere presence.

She was exploited a lot but she also knew how to exploit a system that she could not change.

She played with her seduction to take advantage of the profiteers.

Yet she remained fragile,

defining itself as "low-end clothing".

This paradoxical mixture of strength and weakness is what makes Marilyn so endearing.

Do you consider her a feminist before her time?

She was a feminist in her own way, which is a bit mine.

She did not hesitate to speak up in the face of injustice, such as when she refused to go to a party because Ella Fitzgerald was forbidden to sing because of her skin color.

She also founded her own production company because she wanted more substantial roles that weren't offered to her.

It's something that I can understand all the better since I ended up producing my short film and decided to embark on a show intended to put Marilyn in the spotlight.

I am collaborating with Gilles Gressard, a former film critic turned playwright, for this project which will see the light of day in the 2023-2024 season.

Did you want to play Marilyn?

It's much more complex than that.

I don't want to be Marilyn or imitate her!

There's no way I'm dressing up as Marylin Monroe.

I just want it to be recognized at its fair value and that's why Gilles and I work like crazy, skimming through films and books to try to capture it.

Her “sex-symbol” side is not at all what interests us about her.

It's not the star we're looking for, it's the woman.

She created Marilyn to exist in the eyes of the world.

I want to highlight Norma Jean, the one hiding under the icon, as a testimony to the love and respect I have for her.

This piece will be a hymn to Marilyn.

Why do you feel so close to her?

The older I get the more I realize that we have a lot in common.

Like looking for roles that get our guts out.

As in

The Thing Behind the Door

where I play a woman hunted by demons.

I was delighted that Fabrice Blin thought of me for this type of role.

Her need to be recognized but also to succeed in her personal life makes her very close to me.

The fact that she found predators on her way also because I happened to come across a bunch of them which is, alas, still often a concern when you start young in this profession.

Marilyn is part of my life.

Not a day goes by that I don't think of her.

And too bad if some people think I'm crazy.

I assume!

When you love Marilyn the way I love her, you want to do her justice.

I confess that I would love to know his reactions to the current changes.

I am convinced that it would easily find its place in the current cultural and societal landscape.

Don't you think it's time to leave her in peace?

After my play, I think it will be a good idea (laughs)!

I must admit that I buy everything related to Marilyn.

I read all the books, watched all the reports about her.

I'm always happy to discover things I didn't know, like the fact that she loved Rodin, which is also my case.

We know her better and better, but I think we'll have to stop digging and let her exist as she has become: a legend.

I know she will be with me forever.

A bit like an imaginary friend both near and far, who appeals to childhood as well as to adulthood.

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VIDEO.

Séverine Ferrer (“Fan of”) explains why she disappeared from the small screen

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