Naomi Watts to play Marilyn Monroe in new movie

Aussie actress Naomi Watts will play Marilyn Monroe in a new film on the blonde bombshell.

Titled Blonde, the film will be based on the controversial book by the same name, which details the late actress's love affairs and encounters on the casting couch.

The production, which begins shooting in January next year, will trace Monroe's life from her humble beginnings as Norma Jeane Baker to the creation of the Marilyn myth, Britain's Daily Telegraph reports.

Director Andrew Dominik, whose credits include The Assassination of Jesse James, says he wants to tell the story of "the great female icon of the 20th century".

"For men, she is an object of sexual desire who is desperately in need of rescue. For women, she embodies all the injustices visited upon the feminine - a sister, a Cinderella, consigned to live among the ashes," he said.

"I want to tell the story of Norma Jeane as a central figure in a fairy-tale; an orphan child lost in the woods of Hollywood, being consumed by that great icon."

Watts, 41, was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the drama 21 Grams and has also starred in The Ring, Mulholland Drive and King Kong.

Her latest films, Fair Game and Woody Allen's You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, will screen at the Cannes Film Festival.

In Fair Game, which is in official competition at Cannes, she plays a CIA agent investigating weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

She also features in Allen's latest comedy offering, which is not being screened in competition.

Watts is due to make an appearance at the 12-day festival, which wraps up on May 23.

- AAP