NEW YORK, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The post-scandal life of Monica Lewinsky is the subject of a new independently produced web series set in New York City when Lewinsky was 27 years old.
Presented as six shorts, Monica: The Mini Series begins in 2001, after the former White House staffer's rise to national infamy, as she attempted to settle into private life in Manhattan.
"The obvious route of representing Monica as a joke or vixen was an appealing aspect of her story to play against, and once I began to ask questions in the process of figuring out the story, complexities began to emerge," director Doron Max Hagay told The FADER. Hagay largely based the mini-series on Vanessa Grigoriadis' 2002 profile of Lewinsky for New York Magazine, titled "Monica Takes Manhattan."
"I began to empathize with Monica, whom I saw as gravely hurt and misunderstood," Hagy said of his experience reading about Lewinsky's life after the Clinton scandal.
"I love melodrama, especially the films of Douglas Sirk, so crafting a narrative with a female protagonist whose desire to control her destiny and regain a semblance of normalcy, which fits in in the intensely emotional realm of melodrama, was exciting to me."
Lead actress Lily Marotta says she set out to justly portray Lewinsky's essence, not just do an impression.
"I watched and read many interviews with Monica, but rather than going on a dead-on impression of her, I aimed to recreate her essence," described lead actress Lily Marotta.
"I searched for a leather jacket and pantsuits that I thought she would have worn. I imagined myself as a young hurt woman who just wants to have a successful career and be able to window shop in the West Village without people staring and talking about her."
The first two installments of Monica: The Miniseries are already available online.
