Last month we got to video footage of an interview with actress Michelle Williams as she opened up for the first time publicly about the death of ex-lover and father of her child Heath Ledger. Today we get to see a very smiley and beautiful Michelle on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Marie Claire magazine. Her interview with MC mag is another chance for her to open up about the loss of Heath.

It has been a couple of years since the world suffered the sad loss of the brilliant Heath Ledger and this week, for the first time ever, Michelle Williams (the mother of his only child) opens up on Nightline about his death. Michelle appeared on the show to discuss and promote her new film with Ryan Gosling Blue Valentine and in the course of her conversation, she explained what it was like for her the year that Heath Ledger died.

Back in October we learned the somewhat shocking news that the new Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams film Blue Valentine was slapped with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA (meaning that the film would be handicapped from a vast majority of movie theaters around the country, thereby severely hurting its chances during awards season). Today we learn the even more shocking news that the MPAA decided to downgrade the NC-17 rating to an R rating after a successful appeal from movie mogul Harvey Weinstein:

The MPAA has overturned the NC-17 rating on the Derek Cianfrance-directed Blue Valentine. The film will be given an R rating after Harvey Weinstein personally argued his position in today’s hearing. That clears up all kinds of potential problems that awaited the film had it been released with that rating or unrated. The rating was given for a sex scene between a married couple played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as their relationship disintegrates. I’m told the appeal board’s decision was unanimous.

Altho rare, the MPAA has been known to reverse its movie ratings on appeal … happily, this is one of those rare times. I understand the offending scene, which resulted in the NC-17 rating, was an oral sex scene where Gosling‘s character was servicing Williams‘s character. Black Swan features an oral sex scene between Natalie Portman‘s character and Mila Kunis‘s character and that film never got an NC-17 rating. Pretty much everyone who has seen the film believes the NC-17 rating was outrageously wrong … thankfully, it’s been overturned.

After the jump, check out a few photos from the NYC premiere of Blue Valentine which took place earlier this week at The Museum of Modern Art …

Last month we got our first look at actress Michelle Williams in full make-up as Marilyn Monroe in her new film My Week with Marilyn. Today we get to see another promo photo of Michelle as Marilyn and I gotta say, I much prefer this photo to the first Marilyn photo we saw last month:

Michelle Williams joked that she wasn’t quite her normal self these days — and it’s all Marilyn Monroe’s fault. ‘I feel like we live together,’ the actress said, of portraying the iconic blonde in a new movie My Week With Marilyn that just completed filming at Pinewood Studios. Michelle explained that she has immersed herself so deeply in interpreting (definitely not impersonating) Monroe that her judgment had become a little cloudy. ‘At a certain point, something else does take over. I don’t quite feel myself these days,’ she told me as we sat in her dressing room at Pinewood — which was eerie in itself, because it was where Monroe made The Prince And The Showgirl back in 1956, with Laurence Olivier starring opposite her and also directing. My Week With Marilyn focuses on the relationship that developed between Colin Clark, a handsome Old Etonian and Oxford graduate who worked as a general dogsbody on set, and Monroe … My Week With Marilyn also explores the nature of fame and celebrity, with Clark and Monroe’s security guard smuggling her away from her American handlers for a glimpse of England.

To be honest, I never saw Marilyn Monroe in Michelle Williams before she got this role … but I wholeheartedly believe that she is capable of bringing the legendary icon to life on the big screen. Not only am I curious to see Michelle‘s portrayal of Marilyn in this film but I’m also terribly curious to see Emma Watson in her first big movie after the Harry Potter film franchise. Thus far, I’m loving what I’m hearing … and seeing from My Week with Marilyn. I can’t wait to see more.

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Last month we learned that actress Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek, Brokeback Mountain) had been cast as Marilyn Monroe in an upcoming biopic co-starring Emma Watson and titled My Week with Marilyn and today we get our first look at Michelle as the iconic blonde bombshell herself. Additionally, we learn new casting news about the film from Deadline which shows that this film will be full of big Hollywood stars:

Julia Ormond is playing Vivien Leigh after Catherine Zeta-Jones dropped out, and Dougray Scptt is playing Arthur Miller. Filming starts today in London on the feature, which is shooting for 7 weeks at Pinewood and on location in and around the city. Michelle Williams is cast as Marilyn Monroe alongside Kenneth Branagh (Laurence Oliver), Judi Dench (Dame Sybil Thorndike), Dominic Cooper, Emma Watson and Derek Jacobi with Eddie Redmayne playing Colin Clark, the young assistant on the set of the 1956 film The Prince and the Showgirl who helped the star escape her pressure-cooker Hollywood career for a brief week.

Wow … this is a very strong cast of players, one that has the potential to really tell a fascinating and compelling story. What is key to this film, I think, is Williams‘s ability to bring Marilyn to life. As you may recall, yesterday we learned of a new book of personal writings — due for publication next month — by Marilyn Monroe that will show us for the first time previously unseen poems, letters and diary entries. Despite the fact that that book will give us a somewhat better understand of the real Marilyn Monroe, this film is proof that the public is still very much intrigued by the mythos of Marilyn Monroe. Now that we know what Michelle Williams‘s version of Marilyn Monroe looks like do you think she can pull off the part? I can see the similarity but, IMHO, this photo looks more like Michelle Williams with a lot of make-up rather than a totally convincing Marilyn Monroe.

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In May of 2009 Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams were bizzy filming their new movie Blue Valentine, in May of 2010 they brought that film to the Cannes International Film Festival … today we get to see the duo on the cover of the upcoming new issue of W magazine to bring on the promo phase of the film’s release … behold:

UGH … they look so good together, don’t they? Yeah … I hate her, too! OK … I don’t really hate her but no one person (I’m talking to YOU Michelle Williams) should be hoggin’ up all that hawtness (I’m lookin’ at YOU Ryan Gosling). After the jump, check out a few more preview photos of Ryan and Michelle in the new issue of W …

Funnygal Sarah Silverman and actress Michelle Williams were spotted filming scenes in a public pool in Toronto, Ontario this week for a new movie called Take This Waltz. The ladies slipped into some interesting yet colorful swimwear for the scene and got wet and wild together:

I don’t know about you but I kinda love these photos. From the look on Michelle‘s face, I don’t think the water was warmed to her comfort. As for Sarah, well, she looks like she is having a grand ol’ time in these cute pics … what’s a day at the pool without an ass slap or two? Hee Hee.

[Photo credit: Splash News]

One year ago, back in May 2009, we saw the first photos of actors Ryan Gosling (lookin’ banged up) and Michelle Williams (lookin’ loved up by Ryan) on the Brooklyn, NY set of their new film Blue Valentine. Today, we get to see photos of Ryan and Michelle doing a bit of promo work for the film at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival. Here are a few lovely photos of Ryan and Michelle at a photocall for Blue Valentine at Cannes earlier today:

I cannot believe it’s been a year since we saw the photos of Ryan and Michelle on set. It really doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that they were filming this movie … and now they’re screening it at Cannes. As I’ve said before (many, many times) I don’t even care what the movie is about … as long as I get to look at 2 hours of Ryan Golsing‘s dreaminess, I’m sold. The Cannes Film Festival has just gotten underway … but by the looks of these photos, it looks like it’s off to a great start :)

[Photo credit: Splash News]

Remember how Ashlee Simpson got that role as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway after she got fired from Melrose Place last year? Yeah, well, it looks like she got fired again … Michelle Williams, formerly of Destiny’s Child, has just be cast to take her place. Much Ashlee before her, Michelle first played the part in the West End production of the show in London … but now she’s headed for Broadway, y’all!

Former Destiny’s Child star Michelle Williams will see her name in lights next month when she high-kicks her way into the starring role of Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway. Williams, 29, will play the wannabe star-turned-murderess for a limited run in the hit musical from Feb. 8 to March 28. Williams will be taking over from Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, who debuted in the revival on Dec. 1. (A winner of six Tonys, this production of Chicago has been running on Broadway for 13 years.) Williams first played Roxie last year in London’s West End production. Williams, who won three Grammy Awards while she was with Destiny’s Child, has since released three solo albums and in 2003 made her Broadway debut in Aida, replacing fellow singer Toni Braxton. She also performed in the national tour of The Color Purple.

Well, at least we know that Williams can sing … so, on that accord, she’s got Ashlee beat. I was certain that Ashlee would be able to hang on to this role for more than just a couple of months but, well, them’s the breaks. I wish Michelle Williams nothing but the best of luck … Broadway can be tough but I think she can handle it well. Break a leg, kiddo!

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Michelle Williams, actress and mother of the late Heath Ledger‘s only child Matilda Rose, is featured on the cover and in the pages of the new issue of Vogue magazine. In her coverstory interview, Michelle talks about the loss of Heath and how she has managed to come to terms with his death in light of her happy relationship with director Spike Jonze. Here is Michelle‘s coverphoto for Vogue magazine along with portions of her coverstory interview:

It’s been more than a year since Heath Ledger’s tragic death, and Michelle Williams is still dealing with the loss. “After the first year, the pain is less intense; it’s less immediate,” the actress tells the October issue of Vogue. “But the magical thinking goes away too. And that’s a whole new reckoning.” For some time after the death, Williams, 29, says she didn’t know what her boundaries were in regards to speaking about her former boyfriend, who died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 28 in January 2008. “I can talk about grief because that’s mine, about single parenting, about trying to balance work and kids,” she said. “But what I don’t have to talk about is what happened between Heath and me in our relationship.” Williams and Ledger, who first met when they filmed “Brokeback Mountain,” had daughter Matilda Rose, now 3, during their three-year relationship. The couple amicably split in August 2007. “‘Brokeback Mountain’ was an unrepeatable moment in time, a very charmed time in my life,” she shared. “I was in love. I was in a movie I was proud to be a part of, and with a beautiful brand-new baby. Everything was good in that moment.” Sadly, the actress’ good times turned dark when Ledger passed. “I was holding it together by a string and a paper clip in the fall and winter,” she reveals. “I didn’t know if I could keep it all together… You console yourself by saying it’s all a deepening process. But it’s wired.” Williams says it is the couple’s daughter that has helped her through the grieving process. “Every time I really miss him and wonder where he’s gone, I just look at her,” she says. Another source of strength – and love – came to the actress last year when she began dating director Spike Jonze. “I thought falling in love again was the only thing that was going to save me from the pain,” she says. “This erroneous idea: It just makes things more complicated.” As for her future, Williams is looking forward to raising Matilda. “I feel hopeful and grateful,” she says. “For a while I thought we had lost everything. It makes you want to love better and live better.”

While I’m happy to hear that Michelle has gotten to a better coping space since Heath‘s death, I don’t imagine that the pain of loss will ever be entirely gone. On the positive side, Matilda Rose will be a constant reminder of Heath‘s incredible impact on the world and thru her, the best of him will live on. It’s great to see Michelle back in the swing of things … she looks pretty fantastic with this Mia Farrow short hair’do. After the jump, check out a few photos from Michelle‘s Vogue magazine photospread …