It is safe to say that Marilyn Monroe was quite the hot topic this year with Kim Kardashian wearing her “Happy Birthday Mr President” dress, then Netflix dropping the hot documentary, “The Mystery Of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes” exploring the Legend’s tragic death, then at last Netflix dropping the trailer for one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Blonde.
Blonde had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and received a 15-minute standing ovation. Based on the best-selling novel by Joyce Carol Oates Blonde is an iconic biographical fiction of Marilyn Monroe. The book had signed many movie and tv show deals but nothing seemed to quite work for it. There were several attempts at bringing the book to life but unfortunately nothing stuck. It was finally decided that the book was going to be made into a movie.
The movie had been in production for the past decade but the director Andrew Dominik struggled to find an appropriate fit for the film. He said that he was not very hopeful after several failed attempts but when Anna De Armas walked in it was like love at the first sight, he instantly knew she was the right person for the role.
Ana talked about how she hadn’t seen much of Marilyn but she realised what a legend she was. Armas wanted to create a space under the character that was Marilyn, she wanted to create the space for the woman that hid behind that character, empathizing with her trauma and her pain.
Armas said that Marilyn was an actor, a vulnerable woman just like Armas herself. She had taken up this role to push her boundaries. It was much darker and more complex than anything she had done before and she wanted to reach out to that side of hers. Ana went on to say that she felt an eerie presence on the set as if Marilyn was there herself guiding her. As much as she got into the character she realised how much Marilyn went through.
The movie wasn’t 100% factually accurate because once again it is based upon a re-imagination of Marilyn’s life but some of the scenes were shot in real locations like Marilyn’s apartment where she used to live with her mother and the house where she died. It also plays with her mysterious murder, her tragic childhood and her broken marriages. The cinematography and the use of Marylin’s actual work in the movie are also brilliant.
Ana was also very tearful that the movie got a 14-minute standing ovation during its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Even though Ana has worked in major productions before this might just go down as her most memorable work in cinema.