Marilyn Monroe wanted to make a real splash in her last film Something's Gotta Give. Photo / Getty Images
Marilyn Monroe wanted to make a real splash in her last film Something's Gotta Give. Photo / Getty Images
It would have been Marilyn Monroe's last film before her untimely death and she wanted to include a risque moment she hoped would become a famous scene.
While filming 1962's Something's Gotta Give, Monroe had a scene in a swimming pool in which she wore a nude swim suit.
But,as revealed by a photographer on the film's set, Lawrence Schiller, Monroe had other ideas.
Schiller, who was 26 when he worked with Monroe, told Fox News: "She was asking for my opinion – not that my opinion meant anything to her. Maybe she was being polite or something. And she said, 'Oh, you know about that scene in the movie where I'm supposed to be in a swimming pool and I have a bathing suit on, but it looks like I'm nude?'
Marilyn Monroe, playing Ellen Arden, swims naked in Something's Got to Give. The movie was never completed due to Monroe's sudden death during production. Photo / Getty Images
"And I said, 'Yeah, that's going to really make some good pictures.' She said, 'Larry, what would happen if I jumped in the swimming pool with the bathing suit on, but I came (out) with nothing on?'
"I said, 'Well, Marilyn, the problem really is … you're already famous, now you're going to make me famous.' She looks at me and giggles and says, 'Larry, I can fire you in two seconds.' Of course, she didn't fire me."
Lawrence Schiller worked with Monroe in her final film, Something's Gotta Give. He is preparing a new exhibition of photos of the star. Photo / Getty Images
According to Schiller, Monroe's plan to bare all was driven by money. She knew her rival, Elizabeth Taylor, was earning $1 million for her work on Cleopatra. Meanwhile, Monroe brought in $125,000 for her comedic role alongside Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse.
Schiller recalls Monroe telling him: "I should be getting that kind of money.
"'That's why I want to come out of the swimming pool with no clothes on. Because the pictures will then be on the cover of all the magazines and they won't have Liz Taylor to look at. If you shoot the pictures, I want to make sure that when you release them, everybody's got to put me on the cover and Liz Taylor can't be in the same issue of the magazine,'" Schiller told Fox News.
Schiller is releasing a series of photos of Monroe to celebrate what would have been the film icon's 94th birthday.
And while he recalls Monroe's determined plans to up her star status, as it turned out the film would never be released: Monroe, who was under the constant care of her psychiatrist became a problematic cast member - so much so that she was fired from the film.
Months later, the star passed away at age 36 from an overdose.
