PILLOW TALK: Agnes Bruckner plays Anna Nicole Smith in LMN’s “The Anna Nicole Story,” which charts the rise and fall of the buxom model/actress (annex). (
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The first trailer has been released for “The Anna Nicole Story,” the Lifetime Movie Network biopic about the famed Playboy centerfold and reality star’s life, and the movie, which premieres June 29, looks surprisingly glamorous.
A glossy, beautiful series of shots are featured in the trailer to a sultry cover of the song “Fame,” portraying the much-publicized tabloid starlet as the modern Marilyn Monroe she always wanted to be.
The film stars the gorgeous 27-year-old actress Agnes Bruckner as Anna Nicole. She’s best known for her recurring roles on TV shows like “24” and “Private Practice,” and films like “Murder by Numbers.”
Directed by acclaimed “American Psycho” director Mary Herron, the biopic charts the quick rise and slow but steady fall of the East Texas stripper.
Smith became Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1993 and then married billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall, who was 62 years her senior.
When he died 15 months later, Smith began a court battle over his estate. That battle would last the rest of her life and go all the way to the US Supreme Court over the hundreds of millions of dollars she believed she was due in inheritance.
The cast of the melodramatic tale about the centerfold’s troubled life is about as good as a cable television movie gets.
The octogenarian oil tycoon will be played by Academy Award-winning actor Martin Landau and his son, E. Pierce Marshall who battles Smith in court, is played by Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride”).
Also starring in the film is Oscar-nominated “Sideways” actress Virginia Madsen, who plays Anna Nicole’s mother Virgie Arthur and “Saving Private Ryan” star Adam Goldberg, who plays Smith’s long-time lawyer and secret lover Howard K. Stern.
As her hundreds of millions in inheritance stalled in court battles and her acting career never got off the ground, Smith found herself in financial straits.
Noting the success of celeb-reality shows like “The Osbournes,” the ex-Guess model offered up both her public and private life to the E! Network reality series “The Anna Nicole Show.”
The series received high ratings in it’s first few episodes, but was critically panned and ultimately canceled after two seasons.
In this time, Anna Nicole’s on-screen personality became erratic, both in the reality series and on various talk show appearances, giving real credence to rumors that she had a substance abuse problem.
In 2006, Smith announced she was pregnant with her second child and gave birth to a baby girl, Danielynn Hope Marshall Stern, in early September. The baby’s father was eventually revealed to be photographer Larry Birkhead.
Three days after the birth of her daughter, Anna Nicole’s 20-year-old son, Daniel Smith, died of a drug overdose in her hospital room.
Emotionally devastated by the death, Smith herself died of a drug overdose less than six months later, creating a subsequent media frenzy over who was the true father of her infant daughter.
While the facts of Smith’s real life seem to be relatively desperate, sad and harsh, her biopic, judging by the trailer at least, presents her with a glossy sheen of glamour and class.
“The Anna Nicole Story” premieres Saturday, June 29 on Lifetime Movie Network.