J I Baker’s novel The Empty Glass has been optioned by producers Irwin Winkler and David Winkler. Baker will adapt the screenplay from his own book that weaves fact with conspiracy theory and centers on a young Los Angeles coroner who discovers that Marilyn Monroe’s death was not the “probable suicide” the coroner’s office claimed it to be.
Deadline quotes David Winkler as saying –
The Empty Glass reads like a Billy Wilder screenplay. It’s got suspense, action and dramatic plot turns that will appeal to great directors, and rich dialogue that will attract great actors. We knew immediately that nobody could adapt the book better than the author himself, Jim Baker.
In reality, Monroe’s death came during the shooting of the film Something’s Got To Give, a remake of 1940‘s My Favorite Wife, with co-stars Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. Monroe’s erratic behavior quickly cost in the production a million dollars in overages in just the first few weeks of shooting. The studio tried to fire Monroe and replace her with Lee Remick, but when Martin objected, the studio relented. After Monroe’s death the film was shut down, though the studio reworked the script into Move Over Darling with James Garner and Doris Day. A majority of the film that was already completed was edited together as part of the 2001 documentary Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days.