“I’ve never done a movie with reshoots,” Williams says. “But Harvey said it was like making a movie about Babe Ruth and never seeing him hit a ball. So I was … willing. But having spent 10 months prepping the movie and two months shooting, it felt like we had just a moment to get the number down.

“Marilyn sang this song in a movie, but the one thing I was intent on was that I didn’t want to perform something she’s already done in the same way. Nobody could do it as well as she did. You could match it, but that’s a dry, dead task. So no mimicry. But ‘inspired by’? That’s OK.

“One of my first big hits about her while prepping was that she always tells you where to look with her hands. She’s constantly referring to her own body, guiding your eye with her hands. It’s so smart. And, my God, what a dancer! She gives pleasure wherever she goes. It just pours out of her, looking like the most natural thing in the world.

” ‘I started this heat wave / by letting my seat wave …’ I gotta admit, those lyrics never registered with me before. But they were oh-so-fun to perform.”

Source: L.A. Times