Released in 1961 and known for being Marilyn Monroe’s last feature film, “Les Désaxés” had many adventures on the set. We explain the behind the scenes of this very dark film.
The Misfits : a morbid movie
In front of the camera: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift. Behind the Camera: John Huston. In short, on paper, The Misfits sounds like a chic and glamorous Hollywood movie, which these four artists have often accustomed us to. However, behind the scenes, the film is drawn from a dark inspiration.
Indeed, The Misfits is, initially, a short story written by the screenwriter and playwright Arthur Miller for his future ex-wife Marilyn Monroe, whose divorce is about to be pronounced. Considered a farewell letter to the pretty blonde, the film directed by John Huston therefore has a particularly depressive aura from its writing.
The Misfits takes place in Reno, Nevada. The city is renowned as the capital of divorces and expeditious marriages. It is in this context that Roslyn Taber arrives, with the aim of formalizing her divorce. There, she befriends a group of men as idle and lost as she is.
Film considered the last of the great Hollywood golden age, The Misfits has experienced immense commercial and critical failure. It must be said that no one expected that a film surrounded by such actors would give way to a dark and disenchanted feature film, taking place in the Nevada desert. It will be several years before the film is restored to its true value. and become worship.
Depression and clashes
What was to give rise to an exceptional filming between several Hollywood glories quickly turned into a nightmare from the start of filming. Indeed, Marilyn Monroe very quickly complicates the life of the film’s technical team. by increasing delays and absences. The star thus navigates in an intense depression, just like the character she plays. Drinking a lot and consuming a lot of drugs, she therefore cannot memorize her dialogues and even finds herself hospitalized for several days. Paradoxically, The Misfits sign like THE film that gives her the chance to play a role very different from those of the light and seductive women that she has embodied in the past.
Marilyn Monroe’s behavior ends up annoying part of the set, especially Clark Gable. Weakened by excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption, the legendary actor is not very patient with the pretty blonde and her whims (the actress, for example, demanded that certain scenes with Eli Wallach be cut, because the latter threatened his talent) . As a result, disagreements and violent arguments are regular between the two actors. The last day of filming The Misfits, he will even be relieved that things will end, believing that Marilyn almost caused him a heart attack.
Between the two, Montgomery Clift is him, totally to the west on the plateau. Which will make Marilyn Monroe say: “He is the only being who is even more lost than me”.
Dead in shambles
When we speak of “cursed film”, it often refers to a film which resulted in the death of several people during and / or after the filming of the film. In the case of The Disoriented, the deaths occurred after his last shots. So Clark Gable loses his life, only a few days after the end of filming. This sudden death very quickly leads to a wave of criticism from the press (as well as from Gable’s wife) towards Marilyn Monroe, accusing the latter of having tired him because of her attitude. However, some quickly questioned these accusations, recalling that Gable was already weakened, since the beginning of filming. However, he still wanted to shoot all of his stunts. This undoubtedly caused a drop in his health.
Regarding Marilyn Monroe, she will never finish her next feature film Something’s Got to Give. On the night of August 4 to 5, 1962, the actress was found dead, leaving America in total mourning. She was only 36 years old.
As for Montgomery Clift, he will shoot 3 more feature filmsboasting of being struck down by a heart attack when he was barely 45 years old.
Only Eli Wallach will therefore survive another fifty years., escaping the cursed fate of a very, very dark film.
