Dakota Johnson’s reported turn as Marilyn Monroe is already reigniting a familiar Hollywood debate: Can anyone successfully step into the shoes of one of the world’s most enduring cultural icons?
Instead of a traditional biopic, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “Flesh Impact” imagines Monroe beyond the platinum hair and red lipstick, exploring the woman behind one of pop culture’s most enduring personas.
Branding experts say the reaction is part of a decades-long pattern. Every generation produces another actress willing to portray Monroe, but few escape comparisons to the Hollywood icon, whose glamour, mystique and tragic legacy have made her one of the entertainment industry’s most untouchable figures. The fresh premise did little to quiet critics online, many of whom argued Hollywood should stop revisiting Monroe altogether.
“i think we have enough movies about her,” a social media user wrote online as a first look of Johnson was shared.
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“Please leave Marilyn alone,” another added. “Let her rest in peace.”
“How many f—ing times y’all gonna reheat the Marilyn Monroe nachos supreme?” one user questioned.
The backlash doesn’t come as a surprise to branding experts, who say Monroe occupies a rare place in American pop culture that makes her one of Hollywood’s most difficult figures to portray. Decades after her death, they argue, audiences still feel a personal connection to the screen legend.
“Marilyn Monroe is this irreplaceable icon that embodied glamor, mystique and tragedy. We all feel like we know Marilyn Monroe and any actress that portrays her almost seems like an imposter,” strategic communications expert Kelcey Kintner explained to Fox News Digital. “So it’s almost as if these actresses are set up to fail, even thought it’s an incredibly dynamic person to play.”
One expert likened modern Monroe portrayals to an overcomplicated twist on a classic.
“Ever go to a restaurant and hear the server say ’this is the chef’s take on a cheeseburger’ but you don’t want an interpretation, you just want a cheeseburger?” branding expert Doug Eldridge told Fox News Digital.
“It’s Res Ipsa Loquitur. ‘The thing speaks for itself,’” he explained. “The same holds true for other iconic staples, such as Marilyn Monroe: often imitated, never duplicated.”
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Hollywood’s continued fascination with Monroe is symptomatic of a much larger problem: an industry increasingly driven by reboots, remakes and familiar intellectual property rather than original storytelling.
“Paradoxically, Hollywood is often thought to be the home of ‘creativity’ yet much of the content being produced these days, hinges on reboots and extensions of past successes,” Eldridge, founder of Achilles PR, said. “How deep are we in the comic book catalog at this point – producers are chasing that lightning in the bottle moment, but it comes with fatigue; it starts with sagging box office numbers, but eventually, it ends when viewers become ambivalent and ratings head off a cliff.”
“Creating something fresh and truly unique is an incredibly difficult endeavor, but rehashing the same narrative and storyline also comes at a price.”
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Hollywood’s repeated return to Monroe is no accident. The continued fascination with Monroe reflects a broader yearning for the glamour and larger-than-life movie stars of cinema’s Golden Age.
“In our age of AI and technology, it draws back to a simpler time when Hollywood icons could command so much singular attention,” Kintner, Senior VP at Red Banyan PR, explained. “However, I think an artist can find a new way of approaching a much covered topic or person that brings fresh insights and makes an impact.”
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Despite Monroe’s enduring appeal, one question continues to shadow every new project: Can anyone truly play the Hollywood legend?
“Maybe not, because at the end of the day, they aren’t Marilyn and can’t be, no matter their talent,” Kintner mused.
“There is a longing when a celebrity has died way too young to recreate them in some way,” she added. “But it always falls short because the true individual who captured the attention of the world – has been lost.”
If anyone could do it, Eldridge picked this generation’s blonde bombshell – Sydney Sweeney.
“She would be impervious to the criticism and her gargantuan audience would translate to a box office bonanza,” he explained. “It might not be critically received, but it would be a commercial juggernaut. Not only is she the logical choice – she’s arguably the only choice.”
