MARILYN: From Both Sides Now

Though she’s been dead nearly 34 years, Marilyn Monroe’s star shines as brightly as it did during her lifetime. Over the decades, the sexy screen icon who starred in “Some Like It Hot” and “Bus Stop” has been analyzed, idolized and scrutinized in countless books, documentaries and movies.

HBO’s “Norma Jean & Marilyn,” airing Saturday, is the latest exploration into the sad, tortured life of the actress who died tragically at 36.

The psychological biography stars acclaimed young actresses Ashley Judd (“Ruby in Paradise,” “Heat”) and Oscar winner Mira Sorvino (“Mighty Aphrodite”) as the two distinct aspects of her troubled personality.

Sorvino acknowledges that the prospect of portraying the beloved legend, who would be 70 on June 1, was intimidating.

“It’s like, ‘Why am I doing this?’ ” Sorvino, 25, says, laughing. “I had a perfectly good career and now people are going to say, ‘No way. That’s not Marilyn Monroe. That is not the girl we love and cherish and is the biggest star of all time.’ ”

As the struggling, ambitious starlet Norma Jean, though, Judd wasn’t competing against fans’ preconceived notions. “Norma Jean is definitely the more enigmatic of the two personas,” says Judd, 28, who had seen very few of the sex symbol’s films before the project.

Insecure and unloved, the illegitimate Norma Jean had been shuttled from foster home to foster home and eventually landed in an orphanage due to her grandmother’s and mother’s mental illness. The only thing that kept Norma Jean going during her horrendous childhood was her fantasy about becoming a movie star.

As depicted in the film, Norma Jean sleeps with anyone and goes to any length to achieve her goal of Hollywood stardom. She even undergoes plastic surgery, dyes her hair blond and creates the whole new persona of the vulnerable, adorable bombshell Marilyn Monroe.

But when she finds the success she so craves as Marilyn, she’s still haunted by Norma Jean’s persistent, haranguing presence, which both drives her and deprives her from enjoying fame, fortune and personal happiness.

Judd was surprised to learn during her research that Marilyn often talked about Norma Jean as if she was a separate person. “In terms of a really scholarly way of solidifying the validity of the split, Gloria Steinem’s book [“Marilyn: Norman Jeane”] is excellent,” she says. “She talks very much about the two dynamic parts of her personality and which part desired what.”

Judd, the youngest daughter of former country singer Naomi Judd, recalls reading Monroe’s eerie explanation in one book as to why she kept people waiting for hours on sets. “She said, ‘Norma Jean likes for me to. She loves the sensation that people are waiting for us and wondering where we are and anticipating our arrival.’ ”

Adds Judd: “That’s one of the reasons why I went hook, line and sinker for Jill Isaacs’ screenplay. Our writer spent three years researching material and putting the script together. Every scene has dialogue that she really said or is a setup that actually occurred and we filled it out.”

Sorvino, who had been a fan of Marilyn’s since she was 16, says her portrayal is a tribute to the actress. “I can’t be Marilyn,” says Sorvino, who has been good friends with Judd for the past three years. “There is no second Marilyn. It’s not like she can be reborn. You can do a performance that is inspired by her, that captures some of her essence and tries to do her justice.”

Judd acknowledges that she doesn’t have “anything particularly fresh to add to the conventional wisdom” as to why Marilyn’s fame has endured the ages. “My education [about her] has been such that I see the substance and the truth behind the cliches. She was working from some emotional void in her soul. She was surprisingly, at least to me, in touch with where she was coming from and what she was looking to create in her life--validation, the sensation of being adored. I think that is what surprised me the most about her. I figured it was something we had invented and given as the veneer explanation--how we explain to ourselves her appeal.”

“She was a terrific all-around performer,” offers Sorvino, who lists “Bus Stop” and “The Prince and the Showgirl” as among her favorite Marilyn vehicles. “There’s something about her soul that comes out in these movies which I like, which is what made her such a huge star because so many people related to that.”

Sorvino says Hollywood is still a magnet to people like Marilyn, hungry for fame, love and power. “There are some people who really want to be famous because they think it will solve all their deep-seated needs and, of course, it doesn’t,” she says. “I see that kind of reinvention more happening with those people because they are looking for a way to be larger than life, to be accepted by all. People say to me, ‘You admire Marilyn. Are you like Marilyn?’ I never wanted to be famous, actually. Whereas I think she wanted that. She wanted that bad. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t feed you much.”

Still, Judd says, she believes that “the American people would not tolerate a contemporary Marilyn Monroe. I definitely think she was a result of the space and time in Hollywood where she found herself. With the advent and continuation of the tabloid-type press, peoples’ vulnerability and foibles are not necessarily attractive anymore--with the exception of a Christopher Reeve or a Naomi Judd. The way their weaknesses and tragedies are depicted is very unattractive, with the emphasis on the negative. How much sympathy do people have for today’s stars?”

“Norma Jeana & Marilyn” airs Saturday at 9 p.m. on HBO.