The Movie Star

"The Movie Star"

"The Movie Star" is the eleventh episode of the American television series, Smash. The episode aired on April 16, 2012.

Plot

Rehearsal with Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman) as Marilyn gets off to a bumpy start. Within minutes, everyone realizes Duvall can't sing very well. Additionally, Duvall is unprofessional and self-centered, continually trying to change the show, blowing off events and showing up late, and creating a scene when a drunken ex-lover crashes rehearsal. In order to compensate for Duvall's lack of theatrical skills, Derek creates bigger parts for Karen (Katharine McPhee) and the newly rehired Ivy (Megan Hilty). Derek continues fantasizing about Karen as Marilyn. Eventually, when Duvall shows awareness of her weaknesses and a willingness to work on them, it becomes smoother for Eileen, Derek, Tom, and Julia to work with her.

Dev (Raza Jaffrey) continues to not tell Karen about losing the press secretary gig, so Karen finds out from the guy who did get the press secretary job. Karen and Dev continue to drift further away from each other, while Dev gets closer to R.J. (Tala Ashe). Karen and Ivy bond over a shared rivalry with Duvall. Tom (Christian Borle) and Sam (Leslie Odom, Jr.) go out on a date, and Sam insists they take things slow. Eileen (Anjelica Huston) gets scared of getting close to Nick, and Nick soothes her fears. Leo (Emory Cohen) has trouble with his grades at school, and Frank (Brian d'Arcy James) and Julia must find a way to put aside their issues and help Leo out of his rough patch.