Ana de Armas Says Netflix's 'Blonde' Is "Daring, Unapologetic, Feminist"

Netflix

Ana de Armas stars in Netflix’s upcoming drama Blonde.
The film tells the story of iconic actress Marilyn Monroe.
de Armas described the film as “the most daring, unapologetic, and feminist take on Marilyn Monroe’s story.”

Now that the first teaser trailer for Andrew Dominik’s Blonde has finally hit the internet, the film’s star, Ana de Armas, has begun to discuss the project in interviews.

During an interview with Netflix’s in-house magazine Netflix Queue, de Armas — who stars in the film as legendary American model and actress Marilyn Monroe — said that Dominik’s NC-17 rated take on her story is “the most daring, unapologetic, and feminist take on Marilyn Monroe’s story that I had ever seen.”

Ana de Armas on making Blonde: “We wanted to tell the human side of her story”

“We worked on this film for hours, every single day for almost a year,” de Armas said of making Blonde. “I read Joyce’s novel, studied hundreds of photographs, videos, audio recordings, films — anything I could get my hands on. Every scene is inspired by an existing photograph. We’d pore over every detail in the photo and debate what was happening in it. The first question was always, ‘What was Norma Jeane feeling here?’ We wanted to tell the human side of her story. Fame is what made Marilyn the most visible person in the world, but it also made Norma the most invisible.”

de Armas isn’t the only one involved with the production that’s been full of praise for the film, as Dominik — who has also helmed projects such as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly, and a few episodes of Mindhunter — as he previously said it’s Citizen Kane meets Raging Bull and that it has the potential to be “one of the ten best films ever made.”

Dominik, to his credit, has also been unapologetic about his vision, saying that the famously NC-17 rated film is “demanding” and will “offend everyone” and that it’s the audience’s problem if they don’t like it.

“It’s a demanding movie,” Dominik said of Blonde earlier this year. “If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the f—ing audience’s problem. It’s not running for public office. It’s an NC-17 movie about Marilyn Monroe, it’s kind of what you want, right? I want to go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story.”

In addition to de Armas, Blonde — which will hit Netflix on Friday, September 23 — stars Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, and Julianne Nicholson.