In a bold new role, a nepo baby actress has undergone a striking transformation to embody the late Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe for an upcoming short film.

Dakota Johnson, aged 36, steps into the shoes of the iconic star in the project named “Flesh Impact,” expertly scripted and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

In this 17-minute cinematic piece, Johnson channels Monroe ‘at the peak of her stardom,’ while Ellen Burstyn delivers a performance as a ‘version of Marilyn the world never got to see,’ as detailed in a press release.

A sneak peek image reveals Johnson gazing directly into the lens, her look completed with a striking platinum blonde wig.

The transformation is further accentuated by classic makeup choices, featuring a soft pink hue on her lips and a coating of mascara enhancing her lashes.

Other cast members that have joined the project include Gyllenhaal’s husband Peter Sarsgaard and The Pitt actress Sepideh Moafi. 

The short film is described as ‘a love letter’ to Monroe, and is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, just three months after what would have been the late actress’s 100th birthday. 

Flesh Impact is presented by automotive brand Genesis and received ‘the blessings of the Marilyn Monroe estate holders,’ per the press release. 

‘I’ve always been fascinated by Marilyn Monroe,’ Gyllenhaal expressed in a statement. 

‘So, when Genesis first came to me with the idea of a celebratory project for her centennial, I knew I wanted to work together on bringing this story to life.’ 

She continued, ‘With Flesh Impact, we showcase the timeless icon we know and love through a modern lens that reclaims her story.’ 

The premise of the short film is: ‘A mysterious old woman auditions for a play at a small blackbox theater in New York City. 

‘As she describes her qualifications and her acting experience, secrets about her identity and the misconceptions about her life bubble to the surface.’ 

Daily Mail reached out to reps for Johnson, Burstyn and Gyllenhaal for comment, but has yet to hear back. 

Johnson, who is the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, is known for starring in other films such as The Fifty Shades Of Grey franchise, Materialists and Madame Web.

The actress has previously collaborated with Gyllenhaal on the 2021 psychological drama The Lost Daughter. 

Burstyn is no stranger to the screen and has starred in films such as The Exorcist (1973), Requiem For A Dream (2000), Interstellar (2014) and Pieces Of A Woman (2020). 

She received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). 

Along with the world premiere of Flesh Impact at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, Burstyn will also be honored with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. 

Gyllenhaal opened up about the short film during an interview with Vanity Fair, and admitted to having initial concerns that Johnson didn’t look like Monroe. 

‘Then I thought, “That’s ridiculous. Who cares?” she told the outlet. 

‘I don’t know that anyone even really totally knows what Marilyn looks like because she’s been so commodified and made into this myth and she’s very blurry in my mind.’ 

Gyllenhaal described Flesh Impact as ‘a mixture of Marilyn and my fantasy of her.’ 

She added that the film ‘is about Marilyn and also about actresses in general and what it’s like to have that strange, very vulnerable and, at the same time, very powerful job.’

Gyllenhaal has directed other projects such as The Bride! (2026) and an episode of the miniseries Homemade (2020). 

The star, whose brother is actor Jake Gyllenhaal, is also known for her roles in Mona Lisa Smile, Monster House, Stranger Than Fiction and The Dark Knight. 

Monroe was born on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles and became a Hollywood icon. 

She starred in movies such as Niagara (1953), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959). 

On August 4, 1962, Monroe passed away at the age of 36 from a barbiturate overdose inside her Brentwood home. Her death was ruled as a probable suicide by the Los Angeles county coroner. 

Other stars that have played Monroe over the years include Michelle Williams, Ana de Armas and Mira Sorvino.  

Meanwhile, a chilling discovery unfolded in another part of France, where a man stumbled upon what are believed to be the remains of five newborns in cardboard boxes within his own home. This grim find came to light following a home birth and subsequent hospitalization of his partner, according to French prosecutors.

The man, in a state of distress, learned of his partner’s pregnancy much later than expected, as she continually denied it. His unease prompted him to search their residence, shared with their two other children, ages eight and nine, unraveling this hidden horror.

A heated dispute between the couple over the contents of the boxes at their Orange town home intensified after the woman, 32 and unnamed, gave birth at home to a son. The confrontation eventually led her to complain of severe abdominal pain on Monday.

As she was rushed to the hospital, the husband remained, sifting through their belongings. It was then that he uncovered the tragic concealment of the deceased infants, shrouded in secrecy until that moment.

The man, also 32, then notified authorities through the hospital ​where the woman was being treated for pain.

“The husband stayed behind when she was taken to the hospital, and looked inside the cardboard boxes they had been arguing over – that’s when he found the five dead babies,” an investigating source said, according to the US Sun. “All the [fetuses] were decomposing, and had been around for quite a while.”

Police searched the couple’s home, and prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into suspected murder on Monday.

A forensic pathologist estimated, based on initial findings, that the bones ​and decomposing remains belonged to five newborns.

Authorities said the remains included bones believed to belong to four newborns and the decomposing body of a fifth. Autopsies and further laboratory testing were ordered.

The man told ‌police ⁠he was unaware of his wife’s possible pregnancies.

The public prosecutor’s office urged child welfare services to assess the health of the couple’s eight and nine-year old children. It ​also issued a ​provisional placement ⁠order for the newborn baby, pending referral of the case to a children’s court judge.

The ​mother, who was still in the hospital on Tuesday, has not yet spoken to investigators.

A post-mortem examination has been ordered on ​the decomposing remains, and the bones will undergo anthropological analysis in a laboratory, according to prosecutors.

The couple had no history of problems and were described by a neighbor as “charming people,” according to French outlet AFP.

The neighbor, Florent Jean, told the outlet that the wife was a stay-at-home mother and the husband worked. Jean said the two were “normal people, really.”

Warning: Do not proceed unless you’ve watched “The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare” on Netflix. 

The gripping new docuseries on Netflix, “The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare,” is offering fresh insights into the tragic events surrounding the 2022 deaths of four University of Idaho students.

In a chilling incident from November 2022, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, were brutally stabbed in an off-campus residence in Moscow, Idaho.

Fast forward to July 2, 2025, when Bryan Kohberger, a former criminology student from Washington State University, admitted guilt and was sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences for the heinous crime. However, he never explained his motives.

In a surprising development on July 26, 2026, Kohberger declared his innocence, seeking to retract his previous guilty plea. This unexpected revelation is not covered within the documentary series.

See below for the biggest bombshells from the three-part docuseries, which is now streaming on Netflix.

The victims’ friends found out through a campus-wide text alert

When surviving roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke called the police, she tearfully said, “Something’s happened in our house and we don’t know what.”

Funke said in the 911 call that her friends were, “not waking up” and and “passed out,” not realizing their friends were dead.

The responding officers’ bodycam footage shows Mortensen, Funke and other friends — with their faces blurred out — sitting on the curb outside the house, as cops investigated the scene.

One of them tearfully told a cop, “you could have told us what happened before they sent a text.”

When the cop replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the victims’ friend explained, “they sent a text [message] to the entire university – before even telling us what happened.” 

Blaine Eckles, the Dean of Students at the University of Idaho, explained onscreen that he was “flabbergasted” when the cops told him, “We have four dead individuals, and we think they may be college students.” 

He added that the protocol for crimes was to use an internal emergency alert system, to “get information out immediately” to everyone’s phones. 

Anthony Dahlinger, chief of the Moscow Police Department, noted that the college didn’t give police a warning before they released the alert, and cops would have preferred if they had “collaborated.”  

Cooper Atkinson, who was friends with Chapin, recalled that the alert said “homicide,” which was “a heavy word” that made everyone “freak out.” 

“Most of us knew they weren’t alive anymore, but didn’t know what happened,” he said, adding that the college community was beset by “ongoing panic, phone calls, texts.” 

Kohberger allegedly told his victims he was going to ‘help’ them 

Surviving roommate Mortensen was home the night of the murders, recalling that she heard a scream, and she heard one of her deceased roommates say, “Someone’s here.” 

Mortensen told police, “I locked my door, because I was so scared.”  

She added, “I remember hearing this guy’s voice that I didn’t recognize saying, ‘You’re going to be OK. I’m gonna help.’” She noted that he didn’t say it in “a nice way,” but rather, “in a weird way. Like, a weird tone.”

The victims friends got nasty messages while they were grieving 

Kohberger was arrested over a month after the slayings, on Dec. 30, 2022. 

In the weeks before police took him into custody, social media was abuzz with conspiracy theories about who killed the four students. 

Atkinson recalled onscreen that he got messages on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, from people asking what he knew. 

“There were accusations flying left and right. There were just no answers, so people were finding answers themselves,” he said. 

Atkinson added that it was “hard” because they were “processing” it, and “trying to deal with our friends who just got killed – and also, protect ourselves from the internet.” 

Chapin’s friend Peter Elgorriaga said, “I got a few of those messages – people saying that I’m the killer, I’m gonna get caught. Like, what are you saying?” 

It wouldn’t have made a difference if someone called the cops sooner 

The murders happened between 4:00 and 4:25 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022. The surviving roommates didn’t call the cops until nearly eight hours later, close to noon.

Kristi Goncalves, Kaylee’s mother, recalled that she asked the coroner if the victims could have been saved if someone called 911 sooner.

“The answer was no,” she said. 

Kacy Johnston, who was friends with Kernodle, said that she “didn’t blame” the surviving roommates for “making the phone call late.” 

“I can only imagine if it were me in either one of their shoes – I would have never believed what occurred in the house that night,” she said. 

Dahlinger explained that there are “many reasons” why the victims’ friends didn’t call the police sooner. 

“People are in shock, it’s traumatic. I mean, I can’t imagine being of that age, and being able to comprehend that this horrific thing just occurred,” he said. 

Kohberger ‘adored’ his serial killer class 

Lilly Karaban, who was Kohberger’s classmate when he was studying Criminal Justice at Washington State University, said that she sat next to him in a class called, “Minds of a Serial Killer.” 

“I remember him asking a question about every single topic in that class,” she said, adding that the class would “roll their eyes” because he asked so many questions. 

She recalled that Kohberger “adored” that class, and it was like “a switch went off” in him.  

Karaban remembered seeing Kohberger “sitting by himself, not talking to anybody” before class.

When class began, he was “a different person” and “actively taking notes on everything.” 

She added, “I never saw him socialize, I never saw him at any party, any sporting event. He was in his own world.” 

Kohberger allegedly asked criminals how they chose their victims 

After Kohberger’s arrest, Alivea, Kaylee’s sister, found a questionnaire that he allegedly posted on Reddit aimed at people who had been incarcerated for crimes. 

“Some of the questions were, ‘why did you choose that victim or target over others?’” she said. 

Another alleged question shown was, “Before making your move, how did you approach the victim or target?”

He also allegedly asked people what they were “thinking and feeling” after committing a crime. 

Alivea said, “Looking at the questions now, it almost seemed like preparation for the perfect crime.” 

Kohberger was ‘not well liked’

Dahlinger said that after Kohberger was arrested, “We had many interviews with staff and students at WSU, and learned that he was not particularly well liked by his fellow TAs and students.”

Notes from internal complaints at WSU alleged that Kohberger was “disrespectful to female instructors.” 

Dahlinger said that Kohberger made a lot of female students “uncomfortable,” according to their findings, and “had this aptitude for talking down to females, and being curt and argumentative.” 

Kohberger’s location habits changed after the murders 

At the time of the murders, Kohberger was studying criminal justice at WSU, located in Pullman, Washington – a 15 minute drive from Moscow, Idaho. 

When police looked at his cell phone records, they noticed his phone in the area of the victims’ house multiple times and “odd hours late at night,” according to Dahlinger.

He added that after the murders, Kohberger’s phone records showed that he “never came back to Moscow as he did prior.”

Staying away from that town was a display of “starkly different behavior” after the murders, he explained.

Kohberger had an ‘abnormal’ lack of data on his devices 

Heather and Jared Barnhart, digital forensics experts who assisted with the investigation, said it was “abnormal” that Kohberger only had 18 contacts on his cell phone.

He also browsed in “incognito” mode, leaving few traces of his online activity. 

They were still able to find that in the days leading up to his arrest, he did online searches for “federal wiretapping” and “serial killers,” they alleged. 

The lack of data on his device shows that he wanted to “remain completely anonymous,” Jared alleged. 

The morning after the murders, Heather said, he stood, “in what we believe was his bathroom in his apartment and gave a thumbs-up selfie, seeming to go on proudly with his life.”

She alleged, “I believe he thought he would get away with these murders.” 

The victims’ parents were unhappy the house was torn down 

On Dec. 28, 2023, the university demolished the house where the students were murdered. 

Jeff Kernodle, Xana’s father said, “That whole house is evidence, as far as I’m concerned. There are still stains and things that should have been left there until the end of the trial. But, they did it anyway.” 

Kaylee’s mom added that people don’t understand why she wouldn’t want the house destroyed. 

“My daughter didn’t just die in that house, my daughter lived in that house. That was where she took her last breath,” she said.

The victims’ families think Kohberger got off too easy

Kohberger entered a guilty plea deal in July 2025 to avoid the death penalty. 

Tami, Kaylee’s aunt, said, “He got off, in a sense, in our eyes, easy,” because when the judge asked if he committed the crimes, all he had to say was, “Yes.”

“That’s not enough,” she said. “The biggest answer I want is why. Why would you choose these kids, and this house.”

Jeff agreed, adding, “Tell all of us parents why he did it, if he was gonna get the plea.”

“What I want is for him to die. Justice would be if the kids came back … they’re never coming back, but I want him to die,” Kristi said.

The responding cops had to seek therapy 

Dahlinger recalled that when his police department responded to the scene, it was, “absolutely horrific.”

He said onscreen, “I know not only myself, but every officer that was involved that day, has had a hard time with that.” 

Over the course of the case, the Moscow police department got help from the Idaho State Police, and 22 FBI agents. 

“This was so outside anything that we had dealt with at the police department,” he noted. 

Dahlinger said the case affected him “very strongly” and “caused me a lot of trauma, to the point where I ended up having to get help and talk to a professional – which, for law enforcement officers, is a very difficult thing to do.”