Netflix has taken a first look at the NC-17 version of Blonde, writer and director Andrew Dominik on the story of Marilyn Monroe.
Starring Ana de Armas as Monroe and based on the eponymous fiction novel by Joyce Carol Oates, the film is a reimagining of the professional and personal life of the enduring Hollywood icon.
Beginning with a volatile childhood like Norma Jeane, the fictional twist follows Monroe through her rise to stardom and in and out of her romantic entanglements. The film is an active blur between reality and fiction that explores a growing divide between Monroe’s public and private selves.
The one-minute teaser plays a haunting song about Monroe’s success, Diamonds Are The Girl’s Best Friend, on flashing photos of some of Monroe’s most iconic moments in the spotlight, as well as the overwhelming attention of means and the loneliness of being a star.
In an interview with Netflix’s Queue, de Armas calls Dominik’s ambitions for the film “very clear from the start: to present a version of Marilyn Monroe’s life through her lens.”
“I wanted the world to experience what it really felt like to not only be Marilyn, but also Norma Jeane,” he continued. “I found it to be the most daring, apologetic, feminist interpretation of her history I had ever seen.”
As for the writer and director, it is an examination of a “deeply traumatized” person, which results in a division between his public self and a private self, which for a famous person, which is often played in public. , in ways that can cause additional trauma “. . ” As a result, “the film is very concerned about her relationship with herself and this other person, Marilyn, who is both her armor and what threatens to consume her.”
De Armas said that during the 47-day shoot that required several hours in the hairdressing and makeup chair, he not only read Joyce’s novel, but also studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, and movies. The result is a film that is “neither linear nor conventional; it wants to be a sensory and emotional experience. “
He adds: “There are times when we’re in her body and mind, and that will give the audience a chance to experience what it was like to be Norma and Marilyn at the same time.”
The director also says the film is more than its NC-17 rating. “I seem to get into those situations where people find me provocative, but it’s never what I’m trying to do,” he explained. “I’m just trying to be as clear as I can be. My ambition is to fall in love with Marilyn.”
The film is not the first NC-17 title to be played on Netflix, but it is among the first titles produced by the streamer to get the rare Motion Picture Association rating.
The cast also stars Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Evan Williams, Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel, Scoot McNairy, Garret Dillahunt and Lucy Devito. Blonde is produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landon and Scott Robertson, with Christina Oh as executive producer. The film will be released on Netflix on September 23.