Knives Out actress Ana de Armas is portraying Marilyn Monroe in a new Netflix movie about the Hollywood legend, and the young actress is nearly unrecognizable in the role. The black and white trailer for Blonde begins with de Armas as Monroe, sitting in a makeup chair and tearfully pleading not to be abandoned. As the brief clip progresses to a haunting version of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” the star’s sadness turns to joy, and it ends with the star flashing that iconic Monroe smile.
Blonde is directed by Andrew Dominik, who also wrote the script, which is adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’s 2000 historical fiction novel of the same name. The movie is a fictionalized take on Monroe’s life, bending reality to focus on the divide between her celebrity life and who she was in private. Additional stars include Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale and Julianne Nicholson. The film is set to debut on Netflix on Sept. 23. Notably, Blonde is rated NC-17 for “graphic sexual content.”
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De Armas recently sat down with Elle magazine to discuss her life and career, and during the conversation, she opened up about what it was like for her as a Latina woman to play a fictionalized version of Monroe. “I do want to play Latina. But I don’t want to put a basket of fruit on my head every single time,” she shared. “So that’s my hope, that I can show that we can do anything if we’re given the time to prepare, and if we’re given just the chance, just the chance.” De Armas added, “You can do any film — Blonde — you can do anything.”
Earlier this year, de Armas spoke with Entertainment Weekly about Blonde, telling the outlet, “It was the most intense work I’ve ever done as an actress.” She added, “It took me a year to prepare for that – research and accent and everything you can imagine. Reading material, and talking to Andrew Dominik for months, and getting ready to start. It was three months of shooting nonstop – like, a crazy schedule.” The actress continued, “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever done. Can’t wait for it to come out. It’s a very special film, and Andrew’s a genius. He’s one of the best filmmakers I’ve ever worked with.”
De Armas then shared that she took on a role in Daniel Craig’s final James Bond film, after production on Blonde wound up getting stalled for a period of time. “I was preparing for Blonde, and then the film got pushed, and I got called for ,” she explained. “I went to London, and I only had like 10 days to two weeks of training, which is not much for everything I had to do, which made me very nervous.”
The actress continued, “And then, on top of that, Daniel [Craig, who plays Bond] got injured and I had to postpone my shoot and go back to do Marilyn Monroe, which is completely different from everything else – emotionally, mentally, and physically – and then three months later go back to London and go back to being a Bond girl. All that training I did was kind of gone and forgotten! But it all worked out, and I was working with the best team possible, and they made it happen, so I’m happy with it.”
