Ethan Shanfeld “Blonde” director Andrew Dominik has previously said he was unfamiliar with Marilyn Monroe’s filmography before adapting Joyce Carol Oates’ book about the late actor. Now, Dominik says Monroe starred in a “whole lot of movies that nobody really watches,” calling her famous romance film “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” a movie about “well-dressed whores.” Dominik’s comments were part of an outtake from an interview with the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound Magazine. Journalist Christina Newland, who conducted the interview, posted the transcript on Twitter, in which Dominik asked, “Does anyone watch Marilyn Monroe movies?” Newland added in a follow-up tweet: “I do want to make sure I’m doing my due diligence here: [Dominik] did talk about and reference many of her films. He clearly had studied and watched everything: whether he liked it (bar ‘Some Like it Hot,’ which he loves) another story, evidently.”
‘Blonde’ Film Review: Ana de Armas Recreates Marilyn and Norma Jean, in Black and White and Technicolor
08.09.2022 - 21:51 / thewrap.com
“Blonde.” Start with a base of biographical fiction, add three parts mid-century photography, a heavy dash of bitters, a wash of bad taste and top with a Lynchian float. You’ll have something that kicks hard, if leaving you somewhat worse for wear once the intoxicants run their course. And to push this analogy further than needed (hey, “Blonde” is a film of excess), director Andrew Dominik’s long-awaited Marilyn Monroe biopic is somehow less about the actress and more about his own showmanship.
Think of Dominik as a flair bartender.Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, “Blonde” holds stardom to the light and finds nothing but an unending nightmare. If technically an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ novel of the same name, the film uses that source as a launch pad, a framework on which to pin countless other inspirations, most of them visual.
Speaking in breathy tones where her every line comes pitched between a sigh and a whisper, Ana de Armas’ Marilyn is as much subject of the film as its object — an animating figure breathing life into a non-stop slideshow of iconic images recreated in painstaking detail. That is, until it becomes something wholly different.An early scene sets the stage. We find 7-year-old Norma Jean (Lily Fisher) living in precarity with her troubled single-mother, Gladys (Julianne Nicholson, going full no-wire-hangers).
Dad is not in the picture; except, he is in the picture, in the framed headshot of an unnamed matinée idol (styled to look like Clark Gable, though “Blonde” makes no mention of the film he and Monroe would eventually make) that hangs on the wall. Norma Jean looks up at the man she is told cannot recognize her, lest he wreck his career.
‘Blonde’ Director Says His Film Is Not Anti-Abortion: ‘People Feel Very Protective of Her, and I Think That’s Part of the Problem’
NC-17 rating or star Ana de Armas’ accent, but writer-director Andrew Dominik doesn’t see any truth to claims his movie is anti-abortion. In fact, he sees the point of his film as directly addressing the “rescue fantasy” he feels many of the film’s detractors are experiencing.“The film is concerned with the meaning of Marilyn Monroe I guess a bit more than the documented reality, but I think what the film is really about is, I think everything to do with Marilyn Monroe is kind of a rescue fantasy,” Dominik told TheWrap in a recent interview about the Netflix drama.
Ana de Armas Talks 'Blonde' Nude Scenes, Says It's 'Upsetting' to Think About Clips Going Viral
Ana de Armas bares it all in the upcoming movie Blonde and she expects the clips to go viral online, which she says is “upsetting just to think about.”
Ana De Armas Asked Marilyn Monroe's Grave 'Permission' To Film Biopic Blonde
Ana De Armas took her role in Blonde very seriously — or should we say gravely?? According to the star, she asked Marilyn Monroe‘s gravesite if it was OK!
‘Blonde’: Ana de Armas Thinks It’s “Disgusting” That Her Nude Scenes In The Film Will Circulate The Internet
The world premiere of “Blonde” at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month confirmed that Andrew Dominik‘s film is everything critics expected it to be, and maybe more. After all, the film did receive a 14-minute standing ovation, the longest at the festival.
Ana de Armas says it's 'disgusting' nudity from 'Blonde' film will go viral: 'I can’t control it'
Ana de Armas finds it "disgusting" that her nude scenes from the highly anticipated Netflix film "Blonde" will most likely go viral on the internet. "Blonde," which is based on a fictional take the life of Marilyn Monroe, debuts on the streaming service Sept. 28. Speaking to Variety, de Armas discussed candidly what her reaction will be once the nude scenes hit the internet. "I know what's going to go viral," the 34-year-old actress said, being the one to first address the scenes.
Ana de Armas visited Marilyn Monroe's grave to ask 'permission' to portray her
AnOther magazine, the actress said she actually visited Marilyn's grave to ask for permission to portray the movie star and pop culture icon in Netflix's "Blonde.""We got this big card and everyone in the crew wrote a message to her," she said. "Then we went to the cemetery and put it on her grave. We were asking for permission in a way."While the "Knives Out" actress didn't indicate whether the ghost of the "Some Like It Hot" star responded that day, she and the crew went through with the film."Everyone felt a huge responsibility, and we were very aware of the side of the story we were going to tell — the story of Norma Jeane, the person behind this character, Marilyn Monroe.
‘Blonde’: Ana de Armas Left A Card On Marilyn Monroe’s Grave “Asking For Permission” To Make The Film
When it comes to biopics, they don’t get much more intensely intimate than Andrew Dominik‘s “Blonde.” And the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month confirmed that Ana de Armas expertly channels Marilyn Monroe in her performance. In fact, de Armas got so close to Monroe during the film’s production the actress attempted to contact the deceased starlet, in a way.
‘Blonde’ Star Adrien Brody Recalls First Time Seeing Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe: ‘I Was Transported’
Michaela Zee editor The first time “Blonde” star Adrien Brody saw Ana de Armas’ transformation into Marilyn Monroe was on set right before filming their first scene together. “I was transported to another time and place,” Brody, who plays Arthur Miller (aka The Playwright), told Variety at the U.S. premiere of “Blonde” in Hollywood Tuesday night. “I really thought she channeled [Marilyn] — she brought a nuanced, emotionally present [and] connected impression of her. I’m still blown away by it. It was really impressive.” Based on Joyce Carol Oates’ novel of the same name, “Blonde” presents a reimagined version of the iconic actor’s life, from the traumatic childhood of Norma Jeane Baker to her rise to fame as Marilyn Monroe. The supporting cast includes Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel, Evan Williams, Sara Paxton and Scoot McNairy.
‘Blonde’: Andrew Dominik, Ana De Armas & Adrien Brody Agree Their Film “Took On Some Elements Of Being A Seance”
If anything, since its inception, cinema has been an art of apparitions. There’s a ghostly quality to the medium, no pun intended.
Ana de Armas cries as ‘Blonde’ receives a 14-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival
Ana de Armas is a proud actress. The 2022 Venice Film Festival comes to an end tomorrow and Thursday saw the world premiere of the highly anticipated film about Marilyn Monroe’s life, Blonde. Once the movie ended, there was a 14-minute long standing ovation.According to Variety, the Cuban-Spanish actress was glowing as tears ran down her face.
‘Blonde’ reviews: Critics drool over Ana de Armas, ‘uncanny’ as Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde” starring Ana de Armas premiered at the Venice Film Festival Thursday, earning praise from several critics for its portrayal of the 1950s blonde bombshell. Adapted from the Joyce Carol Oates novel of the same name, the film runs nearly three hours and received a 14-minute standing ovation from the crowd, which caused de Armas to break down into tears, according to Variety.“Andrew Dominik’s Venice Film Festival competition entry ‘Blonde’ takes a blowtorch to the entire concept of the Hollywood biopic and arrives at something almost without precedent,” Deadline’s critic said.“[‘Blonde’] is simply inventing fresh indignities for the most positively, permanently persecuted heroine outside of a John Waters movie ever to have to suffer.” As Netflix’s first film with an NC-17 rating, “Blonde” sparked backlash almost instantly when it debuted its first trailer in July over the casting of de Armas due to the fact that she is Cuban and her accent was not “authentic.”Variety’s critic Owen Gleiberman disagreed in his review, saying the film is “built around a performance, by Ana de Armas, of breathtaking shimmer and imagination and candor and heartbreak.
Ana de Armas: I empathized with Marilyn Monroe’s ‘pain’ and ‘trauma’
movie about Marilyn Monroe for over a decade.The film wouldn’t be a biopic, but an experiential portrait delving into the psyche of Marilyn Monroe and Norma Jeane. It kept falling apart, but the New Zealand native couldn’t let it go. Then he found Ana de Armas, and, he said, the movie came alive.“It was like love at first sight,” Dominik said Thursday, before the world premiere of the film at the Venice International Film Festival.
Did you notice Ana de Armas' tribute to Marilyn Monroe at Venice Film Festival?
Ana de Armas chose to pay tribute to not one but two a classic Marilyn Monroe style moments. The Cuban actress hit the Venice Film Festival red carpet for the premiere of 'Blonde' where she plays the legendary 1950’s film star in the upcoming Netflix biopic. Apparently Ana broke down in tears at the end of the screening, after receiving a 14-minute standing ovation for her dazzling portrayal of Marilyn.
Marilyn Monroe Biopic ‘Blonde’ Starring Ana De Armas Gets 11-Minute Standing Ovation
Marilyn Monroe Biopic “Blonde” is already raking in the praise.