Good old Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, known for his record 56-game hitting streak, world-class performance on the baseball field, and uncanny resemblance to Javier Bardem. Or no, not that last thing? Not even slightly? Interesting, then, that The Hollywood Reporter reports that Bardem doppelgänger Jeffrey Dean Morgan has been cast as the legendary New York Yankee in Marilyn, Lifetime’s upcoming four-hour miniseries about Marilyn Monroe. Monroe was married to DiMaggio for less than a year in 1954, though they were said to be rekindling their romance at the time of her death in 1963; DiMaggio never remarried and sent roses to her crypt three times a week for 20 years. Upon DiMaggio’s 1999 death, his lawyer said his final words were, “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.”
Morgan, who we guess, if you squint, maybe does kind of look like the Krusty the Clown to DiMaggio’s Handsome Pete, joins a cast that includes Susan Sarandon as Monroe’s troubled mother and Emily Watson as her childhood guardian, Grace McKee. Kelli Garner will star as Marilyn Monroe herself. Like Morgan, who headlined Starz’ Magic City, Garner has experience in period pieces, having been one of the leads in ABC’s short-lived Pan Am. We will henceforth assume the cull from ersatz Mad Men series is part of a strategy and eagerly await some dude from The Playboy Club being cast as Arthur Miller.