Lindsay Lohan recreates Marilyn Monroe's "Last Sitting"

February 19, 2008 5:17 AM

How about a little nudity to start your day? Lindsay Lohan poses (NSFW) for New York Magazine, recreating part of Marilyn Monroe's famous Last Sitting (NSFW), made up as Monroe and photographed by the same photographer, Bert Stern.
posted by cerebus19 (40 comments total)

Monroe 1
Lohan 0

I'd never seen the Last Sitting before. Damn, that's hot.
posted by anthill at 5:24 AM on February 19, 2008

I'm a huge fan of Monroe, and not at all one of Lohan. She brings a aged, drag-queen quality to these shots, though Bert appears to still be fresh.
posted by BridgetR at 5:28 AM on February 19, 2008

Who the hell ok'd slide 4, 6 and 9 to appear in public? Those are NOT flattering.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:29 AM on February 19, 2008

Why oh why do I see this thread after I've gone to work?...
posted by pax digita at 5:29 AM on February 19, 2008

I had posted that at my site but added
http://www.newsgd.com/enjoylife/entertainment/movietv/200411050006.htm

Christine Aquiera, who also does a MM sitting
posted by Postroad at 5:31 AM on February 19, 2008

Amazing how even with professional makeup and a great photographer, LiLo still manages to look like she needs to wash her face.

Even so, the pictures are very good. I love the lighting.
posted by biscotti at 5:35 AM on February 19, 2008

The person who built the Marilyn page needs to be taken out in the alley and beaten. Is there a site anywhere that has examples of the Last Sitting shots that are larger than 5px by 5px and doesn't feature an obnoxious background and moronic attempts to disable right-clicking?
posted by caution live frogs at 5:41 AM on February 19, 2008

If they could manage Marilyn and this is the best our generation can do, then history will not look back on us fondly.
posted by ND¢ at 5:42 AM on February 19, 2008

Slide 4 needs to be cut, yeah. Highlights some sunkeness in her naso-labial region. 9 I could also see - the lighting isn't up to snuff but that's not really Lohan's fault.

Brandon, what specifically is bothering you about 6? I'm not seeing it. Maybe the flattened breast from lying down?
posted by Ryvar at 5:44 AM on February 19, 2008

Amazing--she strikes all the same poses but there's simply not there there. Might as well be a mannequin. In the close-ups, it's sad--she's what, 24? And looks very rough book indeed.
posted by gsh at 5:44 AM on February 19, 2008

I think the recreated shots are just awful.

The values in Lohan's face are so washed out, each pose is awkward and somehow the photographer manages to make Lindsay Lohan (who has a lovely body by nearly every standard) look stolid and shapeless. There's no sexuality in the recreated shots - she looks like a posed robot. And in several frames, she appears to be grimacing in pain.

This might be a good object lesson for any aging photogs thinking of recreating their own best work forty years later. Don't do it.
posted by annathea at 5:44 AM on February 19, 2008

"This is, without a doubt, the saddest, stupidest, ugliest, most pointless thing ever. Bert Stern should be ashamed of himself."
posted by ericb at 5:46 AM on February 19, 2008

Lohan is still too much of an adolescent to bring this off. She looked like a little kid playing (un)dress-up.
posted by rtha at 5:50 AM on February 19, 2008

I'm going to be late for work-
posted by localhuman at 5:50 AM on February 19, 2008

Here's a YouTube of Marilyn's "Last Sitting" that I really like, but didn't find in time to put it in the post.
posted by cerebus19 at 5:51 AM on February 19, 2008

I'm going to go with "thank you god" on this one. Imperfections or not.
posted by GuyZero at 6:07 AM on February 19, 2008

This is worse than remaking The Bad News Bears without all the swearing.
posted by pwally at 6:10 AM on February 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

In the close-ups, it's sad--she's what, 24?

She's 21.

what specifically is bothering you about 6?

I can't speak for him but I know what bothers me about 6: the lifeless eyes, the aged skin, the unflattering lighting and angle, the way her chin sinks into her neck, the pimply forehead....it's just horrid. I find it hard to believe that she approved these photos. They're sad.
posted by iconomy at 6:12 AM on February 19, 2008

Strange though it may sound, I never quite "got" why everyone raved about Marilyn. Now I get it.

Lohan, however, looks like a Madame Tussaud's model of herself, with that eye makeup and dead skin.
posted by notsnot at 6:16 AM on February 19, 2008

Her face does not radiate in these shots like Marilyn Monroe's did. She also looks about ten to fifteen years older than she should. She should do herself and her fans a favor and slow down her lifestyle a bit and maybe take a good vacation for a few weeks.
posted by millardsarpy at 6:17 AM on February 19, 2008

Imagining Scarlett Johansson doing this shoot instead of LL helps to take some of the bad memories away.
posted by Creosote at 6:22 AM on February 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

The shots are pretty terrible, down the line, but I have to ask about the subject: if you are 21 years old, have great genes, have loads of cash and tons of free time, how are you not in great physical condition? Girlfriend needs to back off the clubs and maybe hit the gym once in a while.
posted by psmealey at 6:23 AM on February 19, 2008

She brings a aged, drag-queen quality to these shots.

Amen. I thought slide 3 was especially bad in that regard. At first I thought she wouldn't have the body to pull off a film shoot like this, but I guess she got her curves back at some point (unknown to me).
posted by piratebowling at 6:24 AM on February 19, 2008

Oh, and notsnot, if you want more evidence of why people "got" Marilyn, rent "Some like it Hot." There was a moment when I was watching it with an old boyfriend and she was singing in a nightclub scene, and all we could do want turn to each other and say, "wow, she's sexy."
posted by piratebowling at 6:27 AM on February 19, 2008

what specifically is bothering you about 6? I'm not seeing it. Maybe the flattened breast from lying down?

She looks like a 40 year old coked out drag queen as iconomy nicely summarizes.

Comparing the two sets, Monroe had presence and maturity while Lohan looks like the Ikea version of an American Apparel model or a child trying to imitate her mom, which adds a creep factor. DO NOT WANT.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:28 AM on February 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

Lindsay ain't a pimple on Marilyn's ass.
posted by Falling_Saint at 6:29 AM on February 19, 2008

Her breasts are indeed magnificent...but the preternaturally aged face--already etched with the signs of substance abuse--is downright creepy.
posted by availablelight at 6:31 AM on February 19, 2008

Oh, God, the NYT has sunk to a new low.

Hang on, it's the New York Magazine.

OK, carry on, folks. Business as usual; nothing to see here.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:32 AM on February 19, 2008

Meh. I saw NSFW and I clicked on it anyway. If the boss calls me into his office, I'll show her the pictures and she'll probably agree they were hardly erotic enough to be regarded as pr0n.

I've been more turned on by a skin moisturizer commercial, honestly.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 6:32 AM on February 19, 2008

if you are 21 years old, have great genes, have loads of cash and tons of free time why would you go to the gym?
posted by OmieWise at 6:33 AM on February 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Part of the failure here is as Lohan as an actress. She sucks all the fun out of these pictures, as if she's afraid to smile. Part of the allure of MM was that she looked like she was having a good time, even when she was vamping it up and playing sexy (and even when her personal life was shit). Either the photographer told Lohan to play it straight, or she's just not good enough to realize that what passes for sexy in 2008 is predicated on the kind of deadness of expression and engagement that ruins pictures like these.
posted by OmieWise at 6:38 AM on February 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

if you are 21 years old, have great genes, have loads of cash and tons of free time, how are you not in great physical condition?

That strikes me as a rather strange way to view things. I still didn't believe in health when I was 21. I said as much to some wiser person one time; he said, "you will." He was right.
posted by ibmcginty at 6:40 AM on February 19, 2008

...Why is this here?
posted by regicide is good for you at 6:41 AM on February 19, 2008

Her face does not radiate in these shots like Marilyn Monroe's did.

That, more so than her figure, was Marilyn's magic.
posted by caddis at 6:42 AM on February 19, 2008

21 going on 35.
posted by stbalbach at 6:43 AM on February 19, 2008

Number 6 ... it's just horrid.

It's got something challenging about it though. It's horrid in the sense that it's almost anti-beauty but I suspect that's what the shot is partly about. There is a range of fairly strong symbolic elements there - grainy shot, implied overdose on what? beauty, money, the high life? and I don't see lifeless eyes, I see obstinacy: "what the fuck you lookin' at!". It's a dual comment on Monroe's harrowing reality as well as Lohan's. I think it's the best shot there.
posted by peacay at 6:44 AM on February 19, 2008

So when they find her naked and dead with a bunch of Kennedys in her phone book, THEN will you all admit she was the new Monroe? 'Cuz that should happen pretty much right on schedule at this point.
posted by briank at 6:45 AM on February 19, 2008

What an absolutely charming discussion thread for this absolutely fascinating post.

Personally, I would do her if not for her sharp knees. Am I right, dudes?
posted by 1 at 6:45 AM on February 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

What better way to tell the world that you've pulled your personal thing together than to pose nude/semi-nude in New York Magazine? I think its a lesson that all privileged, 20-something, drunk, skanky actresses should take to heart.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:51 AM on February 19, 2008

Of all the things that could be said of her here, saying that she looks like she needs to go to a gym is the weirdest. You think Marilyn went? And LL's boobs are more appealing. It's the bad wigs, the spirit, the make-up or complexion (probably some combo thereof; I don't think Marilyn's lifestyle was all gym, smoothies and vegetarian sushi at the time or something; partying and what's probably naturally less forgiving skin don't help, though) that make this shoot inferior. Why imitate Monroe anyway, unless you're a bearded guy in drag and green wig? In the proper setting (Mardi Gras, costume party, etc.), of course.
posted by raysmj at 6:52 AM on February 19, 2008